WHOOPI Goldberg will be stepping away from The View “for a while” to focus on an acting gig.
Joy Behar made the announcement on the talk show today – but did not reveal when her co-host will return.
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Behar opened Monday’s program by welcoming the audience and saying: “If you’re wondering where Whoopi is, the girl’s got a movie she’s making.”
“She will be back whenever she’s finishes with whatever she’s doing. So she’s gone for a while.”
Goldberg, 66, is set to appear in an Amazon series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys, Variety reported.
Variety explained the premise of this new project saying, “The series follows Charlie Nancy (Malachi Kirby)… a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father (Delroy Lindo.)”
“But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that he was Anansi: Trickster God of stories.”
Whoopi explained that she is a huge fan of the book and was excited about taking part in this project.
“I have been a fan of this book for a very long time and when Neil Gailman told me it was being brought to the screen, I did everything I could to be a part of it to help make people aware of Anansi and all his magic,” Goldberg told Variety.
Whoopi will play one of the main antagonists called Bird Woman, the God of Birds.
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Gaiman, the author of Anansi Boys said that he actually thought of Goldman when he was writing the book years ago.
“When I first conceived Anansi Boys, decades ago, I imagined Whoopi Goldberg as Bird Woman,” the author told Variety.
He said years later, the two met in an interview where she said that his book was one of her favorites.
“Sometimes things feel planned and inevitable, and we are incredibly lucky,” Gaiman said. “She’s going to be scary.”
While Goldberg is taking this particular break from The View by choice, she recently was suspended from the daytime show for controversial remarks.
WHOOPI’S CONTROVERSY
In recent news, Goldberg faced a two-week suspension from The View for making controversial remarks on the Holocaust.
On the show’s January 31 episode, Goldberg received pushback after saying the Holocaust was not “about race.”
These comments came as the hosts were discussing the ban of a graphic novel by a Tennessee school board.
The book Maus depicts Jews being tortured and murdered by the Nazis during World War Two.
The board had claimed the book is unsuitable because of bad language and the depiction of female nudity.
It was removed from this school’s curriculum after months of increased pressure from parents in some districts over books that focus on issues of race, gender identity, and sexuality.
While much of the conversation was agreeable, Goldberg eventually voiced a theory that the Holocaust, which was sparked by the belief in a “master race” and a desire for “racial purity” was not about race.
“Well, this is white people doing it to white people. Y’all go fight amongst yourselves,” Goldberg said at one point.
“If you’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it.”
“Because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race,” Goldberg said.
Co-host Joy Behar asked: “Then what was it about?”
“It’s about man’s inhumanity to man,” Goldberg responded, again claiming Adolf Hitler’s “Final Solution” was not about race.
“That’s what it’s about.”
SUSPENSION AND APOLOGY
Goldberg faced serious online backlash for her comments, and ABC made the decision to suspend her from The View for two weeks.
On February 1, Whoopi released a statement on Twitter to apologize for her hurtful words and said she “misspoke.”
The statement said, “My words upset so many people, which was never my intention.”
“I understand why now, and for that I am deeply, deeply grateful, because the information I got was really helpful and helped me understand some different things.”
