Political Pundits

 


    Before this assignment, I really didn't know what a political pundit was, or even a pundit for that matter. After doing a little research I realized that you see political pundits every day in all forms of media. A pundit is someone who offers news to the mass media and is someone who covers a specific area most of the time on political topics. 

    For this topic, I chose Whoopi Goldberg, whose original name was Caryn Elaine Johnson. When I finally sat down and started to think about how I wanted to go about this paper, Whoopi was the first person to come to my head after reading more about pundits. Whoopi is a comedian, actor, and talk show host. She has been a talk show host on The View since 2007. The View is a talk show that holds several generations of women and their opinions that has been airing since 1997. They are currently on their 26th season of being aired on ABC. The reason I chose Whoopi is simply because my grandma and I watched The View when I was a child when she would keep me in the summers. This is not to say that I agree nor disagree with Goldberg's political views, she is just a lady that I have a memory of watching in my younger years. 

    Whoopi Goldberg has voiced through her political opinions that she is more left-leaning. Whoopi is not only an actress but also an activist whom many people look up to. Goldberg has had many achievements
 throughout her years. Whoopi didn't have the easiest childhood but she started her career very young at the age of eight in the theater scene. She ended up dropping out of school at the age of fourteen and ended up lying about her age in order to open up opportunities for herself. Whoopi performed in the Broadway shows Hair, Pippin, and Jesus Christ Superstar. She also fought drug addiction, ended up getting married, and had her daughter all before the age of eighteen. Whoopi picked up her new name when she joined the improvisational theater group, Spontaneous Combustion. She then went on to join the Black Street Hawkeyes and this is where she picked up a fan base on her stand-up comedy which was called The Spook Show. Her traveling as a one-woman show, lead to her being recognized by Steven Spielberg and he cast her as the lead role, of Alice Walker in the movie The Color Purple. Towards the end of the 1980's Whoopi, along with Robin Williams and Billy Crystal headlined Comic Relief that helped raised money for charities who aided the homelesss. Whoopi is currently a supporter of twenty-seven causes and thirty-four charities.

 I feel a bit like the golden child. But you only know that when you look back, and see the people who touched you, and how friends, camp counselors, people who denied you humanity that you overcame. People who said you couldn't, and you shouldn't, and you won't, and you will never — and you did.
                                                                   - Whoopi Goldberg


    As you can tell Whoopi Goldberg is a very talented and well known woman. She has built herself up to who she is today through her successes. Still some things never change so this leads to Goldberg still behind a camera. On Th View, Whoopi voices all of her opinions from everyday life lessons, topics over racism, and all the way to the nitty gritty politics. The View cast covers hot topics regularly but sometimes the hot topics are a little too hot. For example, back in February of 2022, Whoopi was suspended from the show for two weeks after her comments over the Holocaust. ABC news called Whoopi out for her comments being wrong and hurtful. Her comment was over the novel Maus being taken out of a school in Tennessee. Goldberg's opinion on the novel was that it was not intended for race but instead about a man's inhumanity on another man. Goldberg admitted that she gave her comments before she received factual information about the topic. Whoopi apologized and said, "My words upset so many people, which was never my intention," she also said, "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."

    In a discussion over the election between Whoopi and Sunny Hostin in 2020 they talked on the topic of guest on the show. Hostin made a comment that she would turn down a guest on the show if they denied to vote. Whoopi stepped in and informed Hostin that she would not turn any guest away mainly because you like to see the opinions of everyone. Whoopi is of the opinion that you learn more from hearing from people who have different views and opinions. Goldberg proved her point by saying that she would even accept Kari Lake onto the show. Kari Lake is a very opinionated Republican politician who is an election denier. 

    Political topics are not all that is covered by Whoopi Goldberg. In some cases to bring out her fun and talented side she will be a guest on other talk shows. Several months ago she was a guest on the talk show, Drew. Whoopi and drew discussed the entertaining topic of dating younger men. I like that Goldberg still participates in other discussions like this so that it shows her fun side. Even though Goldberg is all serious and things can get a little heated on The View at times, she also does a good job of keeping some topics light-hearted.


    Whoopi Goldberg is a very talented woman and has shown this through her years of success starting when she was a young girl. She is a very strong and opinionated woman who gets to show this through the talk show, The View, where she is a co-host. Goldberg covers political conversions with other hosts on the show along with the guests that they choose to bring onto the show. 


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