Whoopi Goldberg regrets using an ethnic slur. The prominent TV personality had a weak moment on the recently aired episode of The View when she used the words “he got gy*” in reference to former US President Donald Trump. This occurred during a conversation about Trump when she remarked that some of his followers feel “he got ‘gyd’ somehow in the election” while she might have just said ‘cheated’. (https://www.newslive.com/)
Goldberg took to social media and issued a statement of apology and said, “You know, when you’re a certain age, you use the words that you know from when you were a kid or you remember saying, and that’s what I did today, and I shouldn’t have. I should’ve thought about it a little longer before I said it, but I didn’t. And I should’ve said cheated, but I used another word, and I’m really, really sorry.”
The word she used is apparently a slur against Romani people, perpetuating a bad stereotype about them. It is considered disparaging to those of Romani descent.
This is not the first time Whoopi Goldberg has faced criticism for making a controversial statement. Previously, she had made divisive remarks about Jews and the Holocaust in response to a local school board’s decision to ban Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel, Maus. She had maintained that the Holocaust in which six million Jewish people were murdered was “not about race”.
“I regret my comments and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people,” Goldberg said in her January 2022 apology.
The apology has received little criticism, with many recognizing her sincerity and others maintaining that many people were unaware it was a slur. The folks who defended her claimed that most people are unaware of the word’s etymology.