Whoopi Goldberg is the second recipient of Vultures very official honorary degree.Read about why we picked her here.
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The name Whoopi made her laugh: direct and vital, like farting.
Her mom suggested the last name Goldberg, to lend some gravity.
She did TV during a time when it was considered beneath movie stars.
I have the career that I have because I created it.
Whoopi Goldberg: What does your shirt say?
I thought it was funny if I wore this.
Just as a reminder to anybody talking to me.Thats right.
But people are desperate to talk, and they just want to say whats happening with them.
So they may not listen to that.
Thats okay.I love the shirt on you.
I got a sweatshirt that said All right, 2020, its enough.
I think theyre going to take that apart.
I was watchingRuPauls Drag Racethis past season, and it was a good reminder of your own origin story.
The challenge was to do a one-woman show.
Was that always your core as an actor?
One of the good things about me is that I can play any being I need to play.
I know how to pretend to be someone else.
Im lucky in that way.
Other people are not so convinced all the time.
What they see is the outward shell.
Ive had lots of experiences with different kinds of people.
I dont always like the people, but I accept their experience.
I understand why they feel the way they feel.
My faith in myself is much greater than other peoples faith in me.
Because not everybody is going to get it.
Not everybody is going to like it.
And you have to be prepared to be alone.
Did you do the entire show then?Yeah, I did the whole show.
To him, they are aliens and not like him.
You want them to hold on to the values they grew up with and enhance them with American values.
Everybody said, Dont do that for Spielberg, because its like you spitting onE.T.
But at the end of the show, they said, More.
Oh my God, more, more, and I said, Okay.
And Steven said, What is it?
And he said, No, no, I want to see it.
Ill make my own decision.
And so I did it for him.
He understood what I was doing and said I shouldnt be afraid to do it for people.
And I dont want to mess you up.
And hes like, Why dont you let me worry about you messing me up.
I was like, Oh, okay.
I went and did it.
From Blee T to Celie.
I always knew I was going to be an actor.
Are you a comic?
Are you an actor?
Whats that on your hair?
Can I read it?
Its like,What?
What do you mean?
Youve already decided I cant do it, and I can.
And it was like,Okay, you guys know I have a very robust sex life, right?
Its not even that they dont have manners, if they dont know any better.
They dont know any Black people.
You have to find somebody who believes what you believe, who will take a chance.
So you have people who say, Well, why is your name Whoopi Goldberg?
You just want to be a white woman.
Its like: No.
Ive been Black the whole time.
Ive had 4,000 names.
With this one, my mom helped formulate it.
And it goes well with Whoopi.
Why wouldnt we use that?
If it was that easy, you think I would be the first one doing that?
Id get these cards and letters from people saying, Why dont you prove to us that youre Black.
And I was like, First of all, I cant afford an entourage.
If youve got ideas, show me what youre doing.
Who is taking care of you?
But that was who he was at the time.
And then one day, I ran into him and said, Dude, what is wrong with you?
What is the matter?
And he was like, Im just messing with you.
I was like, Oh good, becausethis is getting tiring.
I dont have that thing.
And he was like, Were fine.
I was like, Okay.
So youre cool?Yeah.
I dont want to beef with you lets do something that could be fun.
People used to say, Well, youre always playing a maid.
I was like, What does that tell you?
It tells you that the people who write these scripts, this is their life.
Theyre describing their lives and the people who raised them.
Dont be mad at me Im working.
You want me to do something, write it.
Otherwise, get out the way.
You wrote the one-woman show as a way toshowcaseyour talent.
If you were a guy, you could have all of that.
You could be executive producer.
It wasnt because I wasnt asking it wasnt available to me.
I would have loved to have been inThePrincess Bride, but nobody asked me.
And I was cute, Im just saying.
I was very cute.
I was different looking.
Now, mind you, I got handheld into the business.
Maybe Id have been too close to Eddie Murphy and there could only be one Eddie.
And she worked all the time too.
Im not the newest, hottest thing anymore.
Let me see what I can do.
And most people who win Oscars will tell you, Youre going to get so much work.
No, its like crickets.
But it was okay becauseGhostbrought meSister Act.
So that was there when I was also doingStar Trek.
DoingStar Trekwas particularly novel for a movie star at the time, whereas film actors regularly do TV now.
How did that come about?I was always ahead of my time.
But what people dont understand is you have to be a buff.
I lovedStar Trekas a kid.
He said, Well, Im doing a show calledStar Trek: The Next Generation.
I was like, Can you tell them I would like to be on it?
He said, What?
I said, Yeah, I loveStar Trek.
He said, Okay.
A year goes by and I see him again.
I said, Did you ever tell them?
He said, Yeah, but they actually didnt believe me.
I said, Can you get me Gene Roddenberrys number?
And he said, Well, now Im intrigued.
I went in and met him and Rick Berman, and he says, What is this about?
Not only was it a Black woman in the future, but she was in charge of communications.
She wasnt serving coffee.
So for some little girl, I would like to be what Nichelle [Nichols] was for me.
Two days later, he sent me Guinan.
And I said, Yeah, I would do it.
Bang, bang, she would shoot up and say, Hello, suckers.
Guinans backstory was always very mysterious.Yes, and it continues to be very mysterious.
Shes very old and she makes her way around the universe.
Shell stay someplace for 100 years, or shell go someplace for a short amount of time.
I think Picard is one of her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grands.
Something I wanted to pinpoint was what happened duringSister Act.
I wasnt sure what they wanted.
They got Marc Shaiman in, and he taught me how to sing.
They werent looking out for everybody.
What is it called when they pay you and youre on the road?
My brain is gone.
Your per diem?Per diem, yeah.
You went on a strike?I got sick.
I would never go on a strike.
But my coughing and sneezing coincided with our brief problem.
But they fixed it, and it was great.
And my God, listen, I said to Maggie Smith, Youre Maggie Smith.
Why are you doing this movie?
And she said, Because theyve asked me.
And I said, Wow.
And I was like, Well, I am really glad you did.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
So what wasthe T-shirt about?
[Smiles] Nothing.
Does that mean you have no comment on it?Actually, yes.
Yes, it does.
Okay, fair enough.
I think they fucked me, and they did it on purpose.
Whos they?The Friars.
These roasts are generally done with friends and people who know you.
And there werent a lot of friends on the dais we were wide open to the general public.
Nobody told me this.
Now, that happens.
So, I dont do anything with them anymore.
I dont want to start that up for somebody else.
Except that these were all people on the dais with the exception of RuPaul that I did not know.
So youve been to a roast before, right?
Ive only seen them.
You suddenly are in the middle of something where youre making a statement and theyre kind of freaking out.
So, thats all Im going to say about that.
I have so many follow-up questions, though.I know you do.
You dont talk shit about other people, Ive noticed.I dont.
I try not to.
If Im going to fight you, Im not going to fight you in public.
You and I are going to fight in my house or in your house.
Or any show that Im on.
You had a talk show that started back in 1992 …I had a great talk show.
It only lasted for a season.
I just wanted to talk to the people.
You have to do this, and you have to do that.
And I had a really nice roster of people.
And I said, Well, okay.
His son had justpunched Geraldo [Rivera]and broke his nose or something.
Now, he and I get on.
Hes this little old guy; hes like a grandfather.
He said, I think Black people are wonderful.
Theyve done this and this, but I dont want them to do it here.
I want them to go back to where they came from.
Just as we went to break, I said, Wow.
Well, thats interesting.
And your last name is Metzger.
Youre German, right?
So maybe Ill wait for you to go back before I do.
Well be right back.
I didnt see that, actually, on the show.Yeah, it should be there.
It should bethe last thing I ask him.
And he would say something nice.
He talked really well and then hed say, But they shouldnt be living here with us.
I wanted to see, and so thats why I had him on.
And thats what he did.
He said he wasnt a racist.
Well, he does believe in white supremacy, right?Yes.
But hes sitting with me, telling me that its not so.
And Im going, Okay, okay.
Okay, I dont know if I want to get in the weeds on what he said exactly.
Im trying to parse the value of having him on.
Only the presidents son has come on the show.
Listen, if youre doing a talk show, you have to have them on.
You want them to hear what youre hearing, maybe not the way youre hearing it.
Its a little more meaningful when hes saying it to me.
Why?Because Im Black and Im sitting there.
Do you think its different when supremacists speak to white people?
Hes probably speaking to a base that he would want to rally around his cause.Mm-hmm.
I mean, I cant really talk aboutThe Viewmuch because theres five people there.
But when its one-on-one, I can ask the questions as I did What are you talking about?
That doesnt make sense to me.
Im going to be as calm as you are: I want to know.
Tell me about this.
Tell me about that because I need to know what it is people are glomming on to.
Now, shortly after, I will say, he kind of disappeared, Tom Metzger.
I dont know whether he died.
I dont know what happened.
Its the same, in many ways, with mehaving Ike Turner on.
People are like, How dare you.
Its like, Listen, I want to talk to Ike Turner.
I want to know Whyd you do it?
What was the point?
Did you feel like you got what you needed in that conversation?I dont know.
Ike Turner was a brilliant musician but a lousy man.
But I dont want to put all that on him I want to hear what he has to say.
I think he said to me while we were sitting down, Nobody has me on their shows.
I said, Okay.
Just dont shit on the couch and we should be fine.
He did great stuff, great sci-fi movies.
He just felt the Democrats had been really shitty.
And that was why he changed his allegiance and how he got to be that person.
Yeah, dont do that.
Youre on the shoulders of a lot of people.
Because they talked about how old everybody was.
The same with Dianne Feinstein and
Nancy Pelosi?Yes, and Pelosi.
They were there when nobody was there.
The men didnt give them any respect.
Thats what they did.
Thats what she did.
Who do you think fought for all that shit?
Who do you think went and marched and moved the fucking needle?
Who do you think cleaned up the air and the water?
People say, Well, you just have to be woke.
Thats not what I It doesnt end because this schmuck gets out.
We then have to readjust stuff and put it back.
My pitch with AOC was, Dont talk about these people as being too old.
You cant do that.
Because without us, what are you?
You think you are, but youre not.
Youre not walking into respect from these people on the other side.
So you get the water bill, but you dont get this bill.
You get this, but you dont get that.
So I just feel like, Yeah.
Okay, yall stepped in shit, but you made the adjustment.
You copped to it.
You said, Yes, we know we fucked up.
You cant be pissed off that somebody fucked up if theyve acknowledged it and said, You know what?
I see this was a mistake.
I thought I was doing this, but this is what it turned out to be.
Because thats the only way youre going to learn.
And because I step into shit all the time, Im a little more forgiving of people.
In 2004, you tolda joke about Bushthat barely even ticks the meter on offensiveness.It was nothing.
But it cost me five years.
No one would hire me, and it literally was a nothing joke.
So nothing that it took several years for them to write down what they think I said.
All of the people I was doing stuff with, like SlimFast, they all disappeared.
And then I couldnt get any work.
I went to radio.
I did morning radio, which was fun and I liked it.
She said, Its between you and Rosie [ODonnell].
And Rosie got it.
And then a year after that, she said, You still interested?
And I was like, Yeah, I am.
The way you talk aboutThe Viewhas struck me as seeing it as a job.
Life is too short for this.
So what Im trying to promote is the idea that youre entitled to your opinion.
Everybody doesnt have to dig it, but you are entitled to have it.
Did Trumps election change your perspective?It did.
And my kid, also.
My daughter said, Go when its over, but not now.
I was like, But come on, what more can I do?
Theres nothing more I can do.
And she was like, Ma, you cant go now.
And so I had to go back to them and say, Okay, Im interested in coming back.
I really was like,Ah, fuck!
Listen, America has got lots of issues, but were a fairly decent group of people.
Youre for Bush, youre not for Bush.
Youre for Clinton, youre not for Clinton.
But those guys were always about America and trying to make it better.
I dont know that they always did, but they tried.
Its not the country I grew up in.
And people were trying to figure out why they were going insane.
Well, its because everything you were told seems to be untrue.
And I thought I might be able to help and maybe keep folks abreast of what was going on.
If Biden wins the election, you would move on fromThe View?I have two more years.
Because nobody will ever just give you a year.
You have to fucking take two years.
Theyve been really good to me.
So I feel all right staying with them.
I feel like Ive been there a long time.
You have been there a long time.I know, child.
Theres all kinds of cobwebs.
Im just saying that theyre there.
Because for a while there, people werent asking me.
People are starting to ask.
Youre hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, then you cool off.
Ive been in a cooling period, and maybe this is a warmer period.
Its not burning up, but its warmer.
And Im still hoping somebody will write me a horror story.
I would like to be evil, but like monster evil.
I dont want to be a serial killer.
Who knows how they get rid of me.
Those are the things I love.
Those are the things I havent done yet, and I look forward to it.
And some days, its hard.
Some days, its tiring.
But Im trying not to be too upset about stuff.
Its not easy to keep your perspective heading forward.
Because some days, you just want to lay down and go,I dont fucking care anymore.
make a run at be a better person.
It doesnt always work, but I do try.
