Whoopi Goldberg knocks Bill Maher for 'complaining' about Black national anthem: This isn't about being 'woke'
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News
"The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg knocked "Real Time" host Bill Maher on Monday over his comments slamming the Black national anthem.
On Friday, Maher recalled watching the NFL's season kickoff between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys the night before, pointing out how the "Star-Spangled Banner" wasn't the only tune playing ahead of the game.
"I saw last night on the football game, Alicia Keys sang ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,' which now I hear is called the Black national anthem. Now, maybe we should get rid of our national anthem, but I think we should have one national anthem," Maher said during a panel discussion. "I think when you go down a road where you're having two different national anthems, colleges sometimes now have … many of them have different graduation ceremonies for Black and White, separate dorms -- this is what I mean! Segregation! You've inverted the idea. We're going back to that under a different name."
On Monday, the liberal "View" co-host sounded off on the HBO star.
"I think because we have gone backwards a good 10-15 years, we're having to reeducate people," Goldberg said. "We're having to reeducate people about how women want to be talked about, how Black people want to be talked about, how Hispanic people want to be talked about … and just so you know, Bill, ‘Lift Every Voice' has always been considered the Black national anthem. It's always been that because the separation of the anthems has been so clear to us. Now, maybe other people don't feel like that, but I feel like, you know, we have to reeducate and retell people."
While co-host Sara Haines understood Maher's argument, liberal co-host Joy Behar backed the Black national anthem, saying "the national anthem does not appeal to Black America for very good reason" and claiming the song stems from "systemic racism."
Following a commercial break, Goldberg continued the discussion by recapping to viewers how Maher was "complaining" about the Black national anthem.
Liberal co-host Sunny Hostin took a swipe at Maher for slamming the "woke" indoctrination being taught at schools across the country, particularly when it comes to teaching America's racist past, accusing people like him of "gaslighting."
After Mary Katharine Ham, the conservative guest co-host, backed Maher's concerns over freedom of speech in the classroom, Goldberg dismissed Maher's notion that this national discussion stems from being "woke."
"You cannot say that this is happening because people are woke. I was never asleep. I've never been asleep, OK?" Goldberg said. "So in the culture that I've seen, we are fighting because there's a big gap … you don't see us as being viable parts of the United States and that's the problem. Not just us, but Native Americans and all of the other that we've been talking about, women, just the whole thing. So you know what everybody, America? Get it together!"
