Whoopi Goldberg Walks Away From ‘The View’ Table Amid Miranda Lambert Selfie Debate
Actor and The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg is taking a stand on a recent, polarizing moment from Miranda Lambert's Las Vegas show.
During an episode of The View, Goldberg and an array of her co-hosts — Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin — were discussing the moment in Lambert's Velvet Rodeo Las Vegas residency when the singer paused the show to call out a group of fans who were taking selfies instead of listening to the music.
Hostin was on Team Fans, pointing out that the group of women who were taking the photos were seated in the VIP section, meaning they had likely paid quite a hefty price tag to attend the show.
"The expensive tickets in the VIP section that they were in are $757. I'ma take as many selfies as I want if I paid $757. I'm sorry," she pointed out, to considerable audience applause.
But Goldberg had a different point of view.
"If they paid money for the tickets, they came to see her," she said from her spot in the roundtable panel. "So if she's singing, at least a little respect. [Acknowledge] that [if] you can see her, she can see you, too."
Related: Here Are the Pictures That Ticked Off Miranda Lambert
And when Hostin spoke further in defense of the fans who took the selfies, saying, "Maybe I want a picture and the music in the background," Goldberg's response was even more no-holds-barred.
"Turn on a television!" she retorted, standing up from her seat at the table and making her way into the show audience as her fellow panelists asked, "Where are you going?!"
"I'm leaving y'all," Goldberg said with a subtle smile, "'cause I want to take a picture with this marvelous woman." She made her way over to a 91-year-old woman in the studio audience, and lightened the mood of the heated debate by making her fan's day with a selfie, right there in the middle of the show.
"Just me and you. Will you push that button?" Goldberg told the fan.
The heated The View debate mirrors a stark divide between Lambert's fans: Some feel that she was in the right to call out the selfie-takers, while others thought doing so was disrespectful to people just trying to enjoy the show in their own way.
A little context here: It's worth noting that the selfie moment when Lambert was in the opening verse of "Tin Man," a poignant and particularly vulnerable ballad about heartache and loss.
Adela Calin, one of the women whom Lambert chastised during her show posted pictures of the offending photoes on social media, and subsequently gave an interview to NBC News saying she and her friends were "appalled" by the incident.
“It felt like I was back at school with the teacher scolding me for doing something wrong and telling me to sit down back in my place," she said.