The View moderator Whoopi Goldberg couldn't hide her amused shock after a heckler in the studio audience called her an "old broad," leading to a confrontation that has since gone viral.
Goldberg was preparing to start the show when the heckler yelled out their remark during the January 18 taping of the show.
The heckler—a woman wearing a fur hat who was sitting with a group of other women—was quickly shut down.
You can hear what Goldberg said in the video below.
Whoopi Goldberg Responds To Heckler In ‘The View’ Audiencewww.youtube.com
Upon hearing the remark, Goldberg gave a very good-humored response:
“Did you just call me an old broad? Yeah?”
"She said, 'You old broad,' and I was like, hey, it's Wednesday, and I am an old broad, and happy about it."
Goldberg's co-host Sunny Hostin jumped to her colleague's defense, positing that being an “old broad” is better than “the alternative,” to which Goldberg responded:
"The alternative is not attractive to any of us. We all want to be old broads and old dudes, you know?”
The episode continued as scheduled but the camera kept cutting to a shot of the woman, who sat in a row of chairs next to the stage.
Many appreciated Goldberg's response.
\u201cNow yall know Whoopi ain't going for none of that \ud83d\ude0c\u201d— Dashi Ano \ud83d\ude48 (@Dashi Ano \ud83d\ude48) 1674081438
\u201c@EW Like the woman who said it is a spring chicken !\u201d— Entertainment Weekly (@Entertainment Weekly) 1674099012
\u201cThe host clapped back at the disrespectful comment \ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffe https://t.co/NGwTflQtwc\u201d— Blavity (@Blavity) 1674086409
\u201cNow they Betta leave whoopi alone \ud83d\ude29\u201d— angel Hill (@angel Hill) 1674101302
\u201cDon't mess with Whoopi Goldberg \u2014 especially on live television! https://t.co/mhiCzS2OvR\u201d— Radar Online (@Radar Online) 1674087183
\u201c@TMZ @TooFab Own it!\u201d— TMZ (@TMZ) 1674070802
\u201c@nypost Whoppi, it\u2019s a huge honor to be an old broad! Embrace it and laugh a little!\u201d— New York Post (@New York Post) 1674124261
\u201c@EW Classic!! \ud83d\ude06\u201d— Entertainment Weekly (@Entertainment Weekly) 1674099012
Goldberg is no stranger to clapping back at criticism during her time at The View.
In October, she responded to a critique of her appearance in a review of the movie Till that claimed Goldberg wore a fat suit to portray Alma Carthan, the grandmother of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy whose brutal murder and the fact his killers were acquitted made him a posthumous icon of the civil rights movement.
Goldberg said at the time:
“There was a young lady who writes for one of the magazines, and she was distracted by my fat suit, in her review. I don’t really care how you felt about the movie, but you should know that was not a fat suit, that was me. That was steroids."
"Remember last year? I assume you don’t watch the show, or you would know that was not a fat suit.”
Goldberg said film reviewers should just "comment on the acting," adding that it's acceptable to "not be a fan of [the] movie, but you want to leave people’s looks out."