Conversation | 03/13/2008 8:02 pm

Whoopi: 'I Don't Think I Was Ever Mean'

With Liz Smith and Whoopi Goldberg
© AP

LIZ: Now look, is it true that you’re antisocial?

WHOOPI: Yes.

LIZ: I hear you like to stay in bed with your hat on and eat and drink and watch TV and movies. And you hate to go out.

WHOOPI: When I’m on the bus — you know I don’t fly — so when I’m on my bus, that’s me. I’m in the bed with my movies and my books, and that’s how I travel across the country.

LIZ: Also, we understand, Whoopi, that you are a very rich woman. And you know our Mary Wells Lawrence has written a posting for us, How to Become a Millionaire. So, we wondered if you have any ideas about how to do that.

WHOOPI: You know what? I say get the scratch-offs and hope for the best. I like my lottery tickets. One of the things I’ve never been good at was making dough.

LIZ: Really? Oh, but you work so hard. I guess you’ve just earned it. You’ve made more movies than almost anybody. I counted them. There were just hundreds of them!

WHOOPI: Yeah. But I don’t own any of them. You know what I mean?

LIZ: So you don’t feel you’ve made gobs of money from acting?

WHOOPI: No. For other people I have, yes. I put many people’s children through college.

LIZ: You create controversy everywhere you go. I don’t think you mean to. I think this just happens. Is that because you’re a true contrarian and a revolutionary at heart?

WHOOPI: I don’t know if I’m a true contrarian, but I just have a lot of questions and sometimes I’ve discovered that asking questions is not what people want you to do. They want you to just …

LIZ: Go along.

WHOOPI: Yes, and I’m not good at it because I find that if you just go along, it’s easy for people to leave you out there hanging. See, because everybody talks a good game until the shit hits the fan. And when the shit hits the fan, everybody disappears.

LIZ: Right. Well I remember that you’ve been misunderstood in many instances. I mean, the remarks about George W. Bush were taken out of context and then when you first came on The View, I thought there was a lot of mishigosh. And so, chiefly, what do people misunderstand about you?

WHOOPI: I think, more than anything, that my intentions are never to aggravate anybody, but just to understand and to say what I see. Mort Sahl was one of my heroes. And Mort always said what he saw. He reported on what he saw. His humor was about us as human beings. And so, in my crazy way, I thought I could do the same thing.

LIZ: Well, you know, I think it’s true. I don’t think you’re honestly confrontational.

WHOOPI: No, I’m not.

LIZ: You’re extremely civilized. If everybody in the world was as polite and nice as you are, it would be great. But I think you just say what you think and people are so full of bullshit that they don’t know what they’re getting.

WHOOPI: Well, it’s the funniest thing, you know. Since I took this job on The View, people say, “Well, you’re so nice.” And I said to myself, “Well, I was never …” I don’t think I was ever mean. I’ve had my moments with people who aggravated me. You know, where I’ve … I might have, like anybody else, gotten pissed off about something. But surely not … not evil. And I’m a comic. And so my job is to make it funny.

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104 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

brad berger

Hi Whoopi I have a screenplay that is a social commentary wrapped in a romantic screwball comedy. The conflicts involve men and women and Black and White people, it is very topical. I hope you can read it - thanks www.bygeorgescreenplay.com

By brad berger on 03/28/2008 8:35 am
brad berger

All wowowow participants are welcome to read “By George”
www.bygeorgescreenplay.com

By brad berger on 03/28/2008 9:53 am
Buh-Bye Hillary Hillary Buh-Bye

Brad, I noted your NJ address and recommend contacting Barney Lichtenstein’s screenwriting group http://www.selectscreenplays.com/ to find out when/if he still teaches online UCLA screen analysis class. He teaches both live and online classes, at least he did. He is beyond excellent. I took some of his classes at UCLA. Many fellow students had MFA degrees in film, and were working in the business. Barney is a total gentleman /class act and can provide the inside guidance everyone needs. A good book is by Peter Miller, “Get Published! Get Produced!” My interest in film studies were strictly learning the Vogler mono-myth story structure used at Disney, Fox, Warner Brothers to make my novel read like a film. But as a result of the classes my work was chosen as an example of excellent student work which led to a gig writing a master story for a Emmy winning composer of major film scores who was extremely pleased with what I produced. And Barney said I could leave the class and go immediately into script analysis…although who’d want to. Pays peanuts and loads of work and pressure! His class was fantastically interesting, and well worth the time. Bonne chance.

By Buh-Bye Hillary Hillary Buh-Bye on 03/28/2008 2:47 pm
Mi Mi Benedict

Thank you, thank you, thank you Whoopi for being part of Wow.

By Mi Mi Benedict on 03/30/2008 10:35 am
Michael Salling

scuze me for buttin in at the head of the line — that annie liebowitz pic of you on cobert last night was incredible. Can I get it on google images?
you are sooooo hot — it’s no wonder brando came sniffin round like a coon dog on the trail of an irresistable scent.

By Michael Salling on 04/29/2008 9:22 pm
Donna W.

Whoopi, The View has never been more enjoyable to me, both entertaining and informative, since you have been on it. I appreciate your honesty and also how you challenge other’s views. Great work!

By Donna W. on 03/28/2008 9:02 am
Taylor Hall

This is what I’m talking about…conversation between two ladies who have been friends for God knows how long. Whoopi-Liz top of the morning to you both. Whoopi my impression of you has always been that you call it as you see and feel it. One of you said something regarding the bullshit we are constantly fed. Problems begin when you call those people on the carpet…that’s when stink begins to make its rounds from station to station accusing you-Whoopi- of being evil and insensitive.

I too am over joyed that our fellow Americans now understand it’s okay to speak up…voice your opinions and your concerns. Afterall people have died so we all can take advantage of what we are doing right now. Talking loudly. Can’t wait to see your new work!!!

By Taylor Hall on 03/28/2008 9:37 am
Marie McConnell

I have to say Whoopi that I am so much like you. I really enjoy you on The View. You add so much to the show.

By Marie McConnell on 03/28/2008 9:42 am
Hedda Lettuce

I appreciate women like you Whoopi. Straight talk and no bull.
Telling it the way it is without malice is good in my book. We can’t always tip-toe around important subjects for fear that someone might be offended. We are not, after all, responsible for other people’s reactions to our own opinions when the opinions are asked for and given without intentional harm.
That’s what is so great about our country and so many people forget what IS great about it in the light of a looming recession. We still have freedom of speech.

By Hedda Lettuce on 03/28/2008 10:12 am
J.D. E.

I love smart women who ask questions and have civil discussion! Sometimes I fear too many people don’t know how to think critically. They only know how to react and push their own ideology. To paraphrase Anna Deveare Smith, it’s important for all of us to come out of our safe houses and relate to more than just those who agree with us.
Cheers, Whoopi, and Liz, and the women of WowoWow!

By J.D. E. on 03/28/2008 10:27 am
K O

You are my hero. I, too, wish for more discourse, based on critical thinking, and expressed with respect.
You are my hero. Please run for President.

By K O on 04/16/2008 3:27 pm
Amy Van Cleave

I think that Whoopi, is excellent ,and finally I been wondering what her opinion was on alot of things, How many kids do you have 3? Amy

By Amy Van Cleave on 03/28/2008 10:47 am
Amy Van Cleave

I think we should talk about womens dieases, that have taken women out of the workforce.Like my dx. of Intersitital cystitis, more women have this then diabete’s and MS combined. We need a national spokeperson to shade like on this diaease. The pain is like the end stages of renal failure. Check out there website www.ichelp.org Or Pelvicpain.com

By Amy Van Cleave on 03/28/2008 10:54 am
Sandra Robinson

I would love to know where Whoopi intends to go in
Greece. I have a house on a Greek island and I love
it. I do not own a TV, hardly ever read a newspaper,
it is always a day late anyway, just read all the books
that I can carry with me and entertain my children
who visit and friends who come to stay. I wonder if
Whoopi, who is such a personality and in the midst
of all that is going on in todays world, would not
become a little bit bored. She can come and visit
me anytime but I would have to put up a fence to
keep all the locals from wanting to be her friend.

By Sandra Robinson on 03/28/2008 11:04 am
CAROLINE MuLVEY

I truly enjoyed the conversation. Keep up with each other and always be there.

By CAROLINE MuLVEY on 03/28/2008 11:14 am
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