Whoopi Goldberg, the host of ABC’s The View, slammed Will & Grace actors Debra Messing and Eric McCormack in response to their demands that a list of attendees to a Hollywood fundraiser for President Trump be made public.
Last week, Messing, 51, demanded on Twitter that the Hollywood Reporter“print a list of all attendees” after the news site announced Trump was holding a fundraiser in Beverly Hills.
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/1167658588384501760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1167658588384501760&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhoopi-goldberg-rips-into-debra-messing-and-eric-mccormack-for-demanding-trump-donor-blacklist
“Listen, the last time people did this, people ended up killing themselves,” Goldberg said, referring to Joseph McCarthy’s Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s. “This is not a good idea, OK?” As Meghan McCain nodded in agreement, “Your idea of who you don’t want to work with is your personal business. Do not encourage people to print out lists because the next list that comes out, your name will be on and then people will be coming after you.”
“We had something called a blacklist and a lot of really good people were accused of stuff,” she continued. “Nobody cared whether it was true or not. They were accused. And they lost their right to work. You don’t have the right! In this country, people can vote for who they want to. That is one of the great rights of this country.”
Goldberg’s rant against the stars of the sitcom Will & Grace was met with cheers and applause from the audience.
As the uproar over both the Hollywood fundraiser and Messings’ tweets raged, President Trump himself jumped into the fray, claiming in a tweet that when both he and the actress worked at NBC, she came up to him at an event and “profusely thanked me, even calling me ‘Sir,’” and adding, “How times have changed!”
“You don’t have to like it, but we don’t go after people because we don’t like who they voted for,” Goldberg added. “We don’t go after them that way. We can talk about issues and stuff, but we don’t print out lists.”
Speaking to Messing and her Will & Grace co-star Eric McCormack, who joined her in her call to print the list, Goldberg said, “I’m sure you guys misspoke when you said that because it sounded like a good idea. Think about it. Read about it. Remember what the blacklist actually meant to people and don’t encourage anyone—anyone to do it.”
Trump responded Sunday to Messing saying that she used to be nice to him before he was president.
“I have not forgotten that when it was announced that I was going to do The Apprentice, and when it then became a big hit, helping NBC’s failed lineup greatly, @DebraMessing came up to me at an Upfront & profusely thanked me, even calling me “Sir.” How times have changed!”
I have not forgotten that when it was announced that I was going to do The Apprentice, and when it then became a big hit, helping NBC’s failed lineup greatly, @DebraMessing came up to me at an Upfront & profusely thanked me, even calling me “Sir.” How times have changed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2019
