Whoopi Goldberg Criticizes New York Times Again

Whoopi Goldberg criticized the New York Times for a second time on Monday night, after the paper and one of its chief film critics said she had missed the point of an article whose omission of her 1990 Oscar win Goldberg said "hurt me terribly."

On Monday's episode of "The View," Goldberg laid into the Times because, in an article by film critics Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott which criticized the lack of black nominees for this year's Oscars, no mention was made of her 1990 Oscar, which she won for her performance in "Ghost." Goldberg called it "sloppy journalism" and said that she felt "dismissed and erased" by the omission.

In response, a spokeswoman for the Times told Entertainment Weekly that "the error lies with those who are reading the story incorrectly. The point of the piece was not to name every black actor or actress who has been awarded an Oscar."

And Dargis emailed the New York Observer and defended her article. Dargis said that the "main focus" of the piece was what has happened since Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won Oscars in 2002.

"It's a shame that Ms. Goldberg and her co-hosts opted to concentrate on a perceived slight rather than address a far more urgent issue: the lack of racial diversity in contemporary American cinema," Dargis wrote.

In response, Goldberg refused to give ground. "You shouldn't have to read a story five times to get the meaning,"she told USA Today on Monday night. ""It's an erasure. I've made 50 movies, and no mention?"

Goldberg also repeated her charge that the Times piece was "sloppy journalism."

Comments

[JPMac]

03:54 PM on 02/21/2011

NYT I was someone once...I had a real career once!!! Look at me look at me!!!! I know I jsut sit hear with these other nit wits and yap but look at me!!!

[dorzic]

11:44 AM on 02/21/2011

i agree with Whoopi, there have been so few black oscar winners that there is no reason other than sloppiness to have left her name out.

[JPMac]

03:55 PM on 02/21/2011

Ghost really she got an Ocsar for her roll in Ghost!!

[AgentGrey]

02:54 AM on 02/21/2011

Stop giving awards to yourselves. It's just crass. And then to complain of feeling "erased" when your circular achievement isn't still being applauded 20 years later... I mean, if you like the work that you do and are well-paid to do it, you're already much better off than most.

[Carol Kasun Dixson]

05:49 PM on 02/20/2011

Funny, I understood the point of the story the first time I read it. Maybe Whoopi can't read about Hollywood or movies without projecting herself into the discussion. It isn't always about her. Grow up Whoopi. It's not about you.

[Knowledgeseeker]

11:14 AM on 02/20/2011

I agree the Oscars need more diversity.

[personal beliefs]

03:56 PM on 02/21/2011

what?! Now the "judges" need to alter the way they look at potential winners in order to appease people? lol

[bogey1]

08:50 AM on 02/20/2011

someone needs to get Whoopi into a psych consult

she seems very wrapped up in the lack of attention given to her successes

she's won awards, on a hit tv show and still she's not happy?

meanwhile, back on planet earth, Wisconsinites are protesting to keep their pensions

[JPMac]

03:56 PM on 02/21/2011

Just to clarify, Wiscinsinites are not protecting to keep their pension they are protest to not have to contribute any other their own money to them!!!

[Frannyvida]

07:45 AM on 02/20/2011

I guess Whoopi knows how Women and Students felt about her flippant remarks regarding Bristol's uninvitation to speak at Washington University in her conversation on the View. She failed to mention that even though the committe invited Bristol, the students protested and petitioned her appearance and the $20,000.00 price tag that came with it. Her circumstances don't exactly make her the poster child for speaking on abstinence. Second point would be that at college level, they are smart enough to recognize that though most programs suggest abstinence first, abstinence ONLY education does not and has not worked. In light of the fact that in 2009 Orin Hatch and Kent Conrad proposed a bill that passed giving $50 Mil per year through 2014 for abstinence teaching, it was more than enough funding for a program that DOESN'T WORK. Throwing another $20,000.00 for more empty speak was more than they could take. Hey! Just found another Spending Cut.

[pbnyc59]

06:48 AM on 02/20/2011

I caught Ghost recently before this all started, a friend and I remarked how good she was and what a shame that she is stuck just taking a pay check with those other hens on the view. Then this all started and I was disappointed that she took that stance. I did not see it as a slight, since the story was from the view point of the two best acting awards on, and the current state of black films.

Then last night I watched The Color Purple on PBS. It was both Goldberg and Oprah's first film, and they both were amazing and deserved their nominations if not the Oscar itself. The Oscars have seldom been given to the 'best' of the year, as if one can compare one from the other. They are about politics, promotion and sometimes they happen to go to the best, but not always.

What the NY Times article addressed for me was the lack of work and great product in black films, instead we are given dreck like Martin Laurence or Eddie Murphy in drag, treating women like objects, or Tyler Perry in drag with his quasi-christian bent crap. Funny how many 'straight' men like playing dress up in women's clothing.

[impermanentlife]

05:31 AM on 02/20/2011

the narrative is the choice of the writer. Whoopi has made history, but the world continues to turn. Her Oscar is a good door stop.

[TNFarmer]

08:57 PM on 02/19/2011

ENOUGH already!!!!

[GeneralChe]

11:34 PM on 02/18/2011

Leaving Whoopi and Poitier out was a mistake by the writers if you follow the narrative. Whoopi has every right to complain about this. I don't understand the vitriol directed at her here. Hateful actually. You people who complain and rant about her like you know her, you really don't know this woman. Shameful. Zip it.

[LLisaLL]

11:05 PM on 02/20/2011

You weren't doing too bad with your post until it fell apart towards the end. "You people" is always an unfortunate way to address a crowd. Since this is a public forum and you aren't Arianna Huffington, your instruction to 'zip it' can be carried away on the wind created by your hot air.

[dorzic]

11:46 AM on 02/21/2011

harsh

[bigdaveh]

07:28 PM on 02/18/2011

See Whoopi, you're just not as important as your ego would let you believe.

[teasly]

05:18 PM on 02/18/2011

Hey everyone look at me, I'm over here. I won an Oscar! I understand that for those with no life that is a big deal. But try to remember, it is nothing more than an industry award. Who here can name the 2010 winner of the coveted "plunger award" for best plumber in Iowa? Or the Edison for best electrician? The media has managed to make those weak of mind believe that this mere industry award is really something. Good luck Whoopi, we are all terribly impressed.

[oldgeek1]

05:09 PM on 02/18/2011

Get over it

[Honora]

08:50 AM on 02/19/2011

get over it indeed!! Being on the view is bad enough. Maybe your status is diminished. fan oldgeek1

[INKl1ng]

07:52 AM on 02/18/2011

Whoopi has already APOLOGIZED to NYT for her misinterpretation. Please please please remove this article. Itis now completely irrelevant