Whoopi Goldberg had to reverse course after trashing American Idol — which, like The View, airs on ABC — during this morning’s episode of the hit daytime talk show.
The cringey moment came when the moderator equated the premiere of the long-running singing competition show to the “downfall of society.”
“We as a society love to watch stuff to judge folks. I always said that the beginning of the downfall of society was with … What’s the name of that show? I always tell you that,” she said, turning to executive producer Brian Teta, who reluctantly replied, “ABC’s American Idol?” with emphasis on “ABC.”
The show originally aired on Fox from 2002-2016, before being revived on ABC in 2018 — swapping out Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and the notoriously mean Simon Cowell with new judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.
Despite Idol currently airing on the same network that owns The View, Goldberg ignored the producer’s subtle warning as she noted that American Idol gave society the ability to judge other people — something she thinks we have run “amuck” with ever since.
“They invited the public to decide who that person was. And I feel, once we did that, it began us in a cycle which we have not — did you really just do that?” she said in response to being cut off by Teta from offstage.
Still doing damage control, the flustered EP chimed in, “One last thing is that we’ve talked about this and it’s gotten better and you like it now… Remember?”
Sunny Hostin cheekily stared into the camera, breaking the fourth wall as she told ABC that Goldberg “loves” the show.
“When I was watching it, ABC didn’t have it. They have it now. It’s a different show. The judges are different with the people who are coming,” Goldberg — who finally got the hint — assured. “ABC knows that I feel like this. I’ve told them. It had nothing to do with them. It had to do with the show.”
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Turning to Teta, she jokingly added, “See? You starting stuff, man!”
