Whoopi Goldberg Stops 'The View' and Walks Off Stage Over Miranda Lambert Controversy
A seemingly innocuous discussion on “The View” ended with one of its co-hosts storming off-set and into the crowd — but it’s not clear how upset she actually was.
On July 18, the co-hosts of “The View” discussed the recent Miranda Lambert controversy, which saw the country superstar publicly call out fans at one of her shows in Las Vegas for taking selfies.
The incident in question saw Lambert abruptly stop a performance to publicly call out fans who were busy taking selfies.
It’s been a polarizing and divisive cultural topic, with some feeling that the fans in question were being supremely disrespectful for taking selfies during Lambert’s performance and others feeling that Lambert was being overly sensitive to a common fan behavior.
In short, it was the perfect sort of topic for “The View.”
You can watch the relevant bit of the show below:
MIRANDA LAMBERT CALLS OUT FANS TAKING SELFIES: After the country star scolded some fans for taking selfies while she was performing, #TheView question who was in the wrong. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/0UlADH8Wxa
— The View (@TheView) July 18, 2023
After the clip of Lambert’s remarks concluded, the panel’s discussion commenced.
“I think shame all around, to be honest,” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said. “I don’t like the culture of, like, you go to concerts to live through your phone and not be present and respect the performer.
“But I also think it was a little bit over the top of a reaction. People paid money for those tickets. They want to be there. They’re trying to enjoy themselves, and you kind of embarrassed them.”
Before Griffin could quite complete that thought, an agitated-sounding Whoopi Goldberg chimed in.
“No, they don’t want to be there,” Goldberg said. “If they paid money for the tickets, they came to see her, so if she’s singing, [show] at least a little respect, acknowledge you can see her, [and] she can see you, too.”
Later, fellow co-host and former lawyer Sunny Hostin chime in with her thoughts — and it’s here where things seemingly go awry.
“I’m not split on this at all,” Hostin said. “The expensive tickets in the VIP section that [those fans] were in are $757. I’mma take as many selfies as I want if I paid $757. I’m sorry, [that’s] just me.”
Hostin, who clearly took a much stronger stance than Griffin, seemed to further irk Goldberg.
“You know what? Stay home,” Goldberg retorted. “If you’re going to spend $750,000 to come — $750 — to come to my concert, then give me the respect of watching me while I’m doing my thing or don’t come!”
“Maybe I want to play it again,” an indignant Hostin responded.
“What does that mean?” Goldberg asked.
As the conversation began to devolve, Goldberg sat up from her seat and told Hostin, “Turn on a television, girl.”
She then began to walk off the set.
“Where are you going?” several of the co-hosts asked.
“I’m leaving y’all,” Goldberg snapped back, before walking into the audience … to seemingly take a selfie with a nonagenarian celebrating her birthday at the show.
It was as strange and inexplicable of an ending to a segment as there has been in recent memory on the divisive daytime talk show.
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