As she gets ever larger, Goldberg becomes ever more conservative -- possibly suggesting the premise for a new sociological study which would examine whether media fat cats of expanded girth just naturally hate liberty and the world around them or if Whoopi and Rush Limbaugh are anomalies?
It was Friday and the tired show opened with a wide shot on Whoopi because, let's face it, she's so big you can't do a close up anymore, not if you want to get all of her on the screen. In fact, if she continues packing it on at this rate, Barbara Walters and Bill Geddie are going to have to consider broadcasting the show in letterbox format.
But there was Whoopi yammering away on a topic she, as usual, knew nothing about. Leisha Hailey is an actress most famous for being on The L Word. She and her girlfriend were planning to fly on Southwest Airlines last week and the two kissed on the plane after boarding. Southwest Airlines promptly had a fit and escorted them off the plane. Hailey offered her story via her Twitter account in a series of Tweets last Monday. They include:
* I have been discriminated against by @SouthwestAir. Flt. attendant said that it was a "family" airline and kissing was not ok.
* This is an outrage. I demand a public apology by @SouthwestAir and a refund. Hate is not a family value. I will never fly this airline.
* We were escorted off the plane for getting upset about the issue. @SouthwestAir endorses homophobic employees. No one made her accountable.
Once upon a time, Whoopi would have been the first to defend the actress and her girlfriend Camila Grey (the two women are also in the band Uh Huh Her). Those days are long gone. Not only is Whoopi ever more conservative and, yes, homophobic, but she also doesn't feel the need to gather even basic information before going on air.
Though Whoopi's big mouth was the one to introduce the issue Friday -- obviously and poorly reading from the teleprompter -- she had to be helped with the actress' name by co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. She also characterized the actions of the two women as "get a room, making out." Despite the fact that four days prior, Tuesday, Camila Grey and Leisha Haily had issued the following statement:
We have always promoted tolerance, openness and equality both as a band and as individuals. We both come from loving homes where our parents not only love and accept us, but are also proud of who we are. We believe everyone has the right to live openly in this society as equals. In no way were our actions on Southwest Airlines excessive, inappropriate or vulgar. We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one, modest kiss. We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple. We were on the airplane less than 5 minutes when all was said and done. We take full responsibility for getting verbally upset with the flight attendant after being told it was a "family airline." We were never told the reason the flight attendant approached us, we were only scolded that we "needed to be aware that Southwest Airlines was a family oriented airline." No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn’t make it any less loud. You can't whisper hate. We ask this airline to teach their employees to not discriminate against any couple, ever, regardless of their own beliefs. We want to live in a society where if your loved one leans over to give you an innocent kiss on an airplane it's not labeled as "excessive or not family oriented" by a corporation and its employees. We find it very disturbing that the same airline who lauds itself as being LGBT friendly has twisted an upsetting incident that happened into our behavior being "too excessive." The above is not an apology and we are in the process of filing a formal complaint with the airline. We hope that when all is said and done a greater tolerance without prejudice will evolve.
Not only was this statement flat out ignored by Whoopi, but so was Camila Grey. Her name was never mentioned. Was it too much for Whoopi to mention Camila? We know part of the reason she's put on so much weight is because she's lonely and bitter that no man wants her and she's taken to making cheap shots about her former ex-Ted Danson. But if she's going to be in front of the cameras discussing 'issues,' she needs to (a) know her facts and (b) get over her anger that she's unloved and (she believes) unlovable.
We'll ignore Sherri Shepherd because someone so stupid should never have been put on TV to begin with. We refer not only to her use Friday of "extensive" when she met "excessive" (the English language remains at odds with Sherri), not only due to her well know homophobia but also to the fact that dumb ass believes the world is flat. When you're that uninformed, you shouldn't be in front of a microphone. But we will note Joy Behar briefly tried to address the issues and even tried to make jokes that touched on the issues (not distorted them) before she visibly gave up on the "hot topic." And we will note that Elisabeth, of all people, was the one speaking out for the rights of the people. It was surprising to see. Elisabeth was informed and knew what she was talking about -- whether addressing rights or addressing past problems with Southwest Airlines.
And then there was Whoopi, not sticking to facts, off blabbering away in some jibberish that had us recalling her moments in Jumping Jack Flash (one of the only two decent films she ever made) hissing, "Enuciate!" She couldn't be bothered following her own advice when she was too busy 'improvising' on the 'hot topic' by declaring "when they start taking their clothes off" -- no one stated or implied that either woman had taken their clothes off.
It was all too much for Whoopi who issued this edict, "Kiss and get on the plane and don't say nothing."
Oh, we're sorry, did the couple abuse their free ride? That was wrong of Camila and Leisha because -- Wait. They didn't have a free ride.
They paid for those tickets.
They paid a nice sum for those tickets.
"Kiss and get on the plane and don't say nothing"?
When customers are treated in an abusive and offensive manner, they have a right to complain. Airline passengers have a right to expect not only to be treated fairly but to be treated courtesouly. That this is an alien notion to Whoopi Goldberg goes to just how much nutty the woman currently packs on. Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey are calling for a boycott of Southwest Airlines. If the above doesn't make you want to reconsider flying Southwest, consider the reason we always avoid it: It's the K-Mart of the big blue skies.
