As the “culture war” over drag queens, LGBT+ pride and transgender rights continues in America, actor and TV personality Whoopi Goldberg has waded into the discourse to slam “snowflakes” over Target being forced to remove Pride displays in its stores due to violent threats.
The US retail giant issued a statement on Wednesday to say it would remove certain items “at the centre of the most significant confrontational behaviour” which was impacting staff’s “sense of safety and wellbeing”.
Offering her take on ABC’s The View, the Sister Act actor responded to comments from fellow panellist Alyssa Farah Griffin and said: “I’m sorry, I don’t know what controversial means, having been called controversial for most of my career the last 40 years.
“People decide what’s controversial and they point. You know, they say, ‘oh, you got that on your shirt’. You don’t know what this is, and you’ve made a decision about it.
“I’m all for protecting the folks [at Target], I don’t know if they called the cops, maybe they did and they felt this was the right way. I am sick of people moving my desires, because their desires are not being met in some way.
“I am sick of people telling me I can’t go to a drag show. I am sick of people telling me that my friends are different because you don’t understand them. I’m sick of it.”
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Goldberg went on to add that “this is America” and that people are “supposed to be able to be whoever you are”, to loud applause from the audience.
She added: “Stop with all this stuff. You want to talk about snowflakes? Who are the snowflakes, really?”
Sunny Hostin chipped in: “The people scared of a [Pride] flag.”
Goldberg continued: “The people scared of a flag, the people scared of a drag brunch. It’s a brunch! It’s a brunch!”
“I’m getting really tired of this and I’m trying not to say any bad words.”
The LGBT+ campaigner has since been praised for her remarks:
Last week Goldberg made headlines with Michael J Fox, when the Back to the Future star revealed he turned down the chance to work with the actor on the hit movie Ghost.
“I said, ‘Whoopi’s great, but it’ll never work.’ And then it was great and huge, and I’m a f***ing idiot,” he said.
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