Whoopi Goldberg sparked major backlash after claiming on ABC’s The View that Black Americans in 2025 were no better off than citizens living under Iran’s oppressive Islamist regime.
The moment came during a discussion with cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin, who pointed out that an Iranian woman could be arrested—or worse—for simply wearing her modest outfit. “I can’t have my hair showing, I can’t wear a skirt, I can’t have my arms out,” Griffin said.
Goldberg pushed back hard, dismissing comparisons between the U.S. and Iran. “Listen, here’s the thing — let’s not do the — let’s not do that, because if we start with that, we have been known in this country to tie gay folks to the car.”
“I’m sorry, but where the Iranian regime is today is nothing compared to the United States,” Griffin replied.
Goldberg doubled down. “They used to just keep hanging black people!” she said, refusing to back off her argument.
Critics were quick to slam her take, similar to the outrage that followed her previous Holocaust remarks. Fox News’ Guy Benson didn’t hold back on America’s Newsroom.
“I call that show a daily national televised insane asylum for a reason,” he said. “It’s hard to overstate the moral idiocy of what we just heard there.”
“Our government prosecutes hate crimes,” Benson added. “They don’t commit them as a matter of course. For her to say, ‘Oh, well, if you’re black in the United States in 2025, it’s basically the same as being a dissident or anyone in Iran,’ that is deeply, deeply ignorant.”
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) also weighed in: “If America were anything like Iran as she suggests, Whoopi Goldberg would be punished for the way she bashes our country. But because she lives in America, she has the freedom to say idiotic things on TV everyday. That’s the beauty of our country.”