On Tuesday, a newspaper in Texas, the Austin American-Statesman, made a controversial decision: They leaked footage from inside the Robb Elementary hallways during the mass shooting in Uvalde last month. The paper’s Ethics & Standards editor defended the decision, arguing it was in the public’s interest (while noting they removed the audio), in part because not enough has been done to investigate it. Parents of the victims, however, weren’t buying it.
Neither was Whoopi Goldberg. As per Entertainment Weekly, the co-host of The View spent part of Tuesday’s show railing against the paper’s decision, and she got so mad she literally spit.
“This story really makes me insane,” Whoopi Goldberg says as they got to the story of the Austin American-Statesman paper releasing leaked video of police inaction with the Uvalde massacre.
And she spits on the set in disgust at the paper saying they didn’t think of the families. pic.twitter.com/WTFjCgCm9L— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 13, 2022
“I find it indefensible,” she said. “I’m sorry, you forgot that, attached to all those sounds are people’s children, and you didn’t have to do this. They were going to see this video on Sunday, you did not have to release this and leak it. I think it’s appalling and you should be ashamed of yourselves for doing that, for being thoughtless about the parents who have to relive this every day because it’s on television every time you turn around.”
It was at this point that she turned and spat on the stage, then continued. “I don’t know if you guys over at that newspaper have kids, but, shame on you. I know it doesn’t mean anything coming from me, but shame on you,” she said.
Co-host Sunny Hostin was a bit more diplomatic, arguing that the leak was part of a “difficult balancing act.” She added, “It’s so important that we be able to, as the public… videos, in my view, lead to just results, increased training, awareness, it can really change the public narrative.”
But Goldberg wasn’t budging, pointing out that the paper didn’t inform the parents of their decision, or give them “the opportunity to re-steel themselves.”
Goldberg has often used her pulpit to address hot button issues. After the Supreme Court went on a tear of radical rulings, she warned Clarence Thomas that those in his party may one day come for his interracial marriage as well. She’s also railed against Fox News host Laura Ingraham for absurdly blaming mass shootings on weed.
(Via EW)