Whoopi Goldberg spoke out this week to say that “The View” and Barbara Walters saved her career after she was hit with backlash for comments she made about then-President George W. Bush back in 2004.

While appearing on the digital “The Art of the Interview” series on Drew Barrymore’s upcoming talk show, Goldberg reflected on the backlash she was hit with after speaking at a 2004 Democratic fundraiser. It was there that she made an off-color joke in which she used Bush’s name to make a sexual reference.

“Listen, I got very, very lucky because I got into some trouble where I pissed off a politician and then I lost everything really,” Goldberg said. “I lost my ability to make a living, I lost any kind of things that I had going on that would bring money in, so I didn’t work for five years.”

The scandal cost Goldberg some partnerships, and she felt that her entire career was in jeopardy. Just when it seemed like all hope was lost, Walters stepped in to offer Goldberg a job.

“Barbara Walters, God bless her, said, ‘I need another person. Would you ever consider?’ And I was like, ‘Yes.’ Because I had gone through all of my savings,” Goldberg explained. ”You know taking care of your family, everything is sitting on you. And so, I went through everything and she gave me a job which has lasted ten years now and I’m really grateful for.”

Goldberg has since hosted “The View” for over a decade, and her name is no longer synonymous with the Bush joke.

This comes as Barrymore is preparing for the launch of her own daytime talk show on September 14, and she has a theory for how both she and Goldberg ended up in daytime television.

“Sometimes it’s something that you didn’t anticipate but I still feel like there was probably a lot of work behind it that generated the karmic moment of that opportunity like when Barbara Walters called you and this woman Elaine Bauer Brooks at CBS called me,” Barrymore said. “But we’ve been in film and television for so many years and watched it and loved it and have been a part of it.”

“I’ve always been on television. I’ve always done movies,” she added. “Maybe it was a perfect fit for both of us.”

Recommended
Join the Discussion

COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
More Stuff