Whoopi Goldberg, 67, is letting everyone know she supports Miranda Lambert in the selfie debate – which was sparked after the 39-year-old country music singer called out a group of friends for taking a selfie in the middle of an emotional song during her concert in Las Vegas on Saturday night (July 15).
The topic was discussed on Thursday’s episode of the The View, where Goldberg and her co-hosts – Joy Behar, 80, Sara Haines, 45, Sunny Hostin, 54, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, 34 – shared their split reactions to the incident. While some of the panelists sided with the fans, Whoopi sided with Miranda.
After acknowledging that ‘people online are split about this,’ she shakes her head and rolls her eyes in disbelief. Farah Griffin was the first to share her reaction, which saw her throw ‘shame all around.’ She didn’t like that the fans took the picture, but she also felt as if Miranda’s reaction was a little ‘over the top.’
During her defense of the fans, Farah Griffin brought up the fact that they paid a lot of money for those seats, they wanted to be there, and they were just trying to enjoy themselves. That’s when Whoopi Goldberg stepped in and shared her opinion – arguing that the fans didn’t really want to be there.
Miranda Lambert stops show to call out two fans taking a selfie:
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) July 17, 2023
“These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the song, it’s pissing me off a little bit. Sorry, I don’t like it at all. We’re here to hear some country music tonight. I’m singing some country… pic.twitter.com/sERBzalpBI
“If they paid money for the tickets, they came to see her. So, if she’s singing, at least [show] a little respect – acknowledge [if] you can see her, she can see you too,” Whoopi Goldberg said – clearly taking the side of Miranda Lambert. “She can see what you’re doing and she can see that you’re ignoring her.”
She likened it to going into a bar where there’s a lounge singer or someone at the piano, but nobody’s listening. “That’s what it’s like for [Lambert],” Goldberg added. Sara Haines agreed with that sentiment – especially considering the fans were in the front row and they were taking the selfie during a ballad.
That’s when Sunny Hostin chimed in and took the complete opposite stance. Noting that those tickets were roughly $750, Hostin said she’s not split on this debate in the slightest. “I’m gonna take as many selfies as I want if I paid $757. I’m sorry, that’s just me,” she exclaimed – much to the audience’s delight.
Whoopi Goldberg Walks Off the Show
After Sunny Hostin shared what side of the spectrum she fell on, Whoopi Goldberg wasn’t having any of it. “You know what? Stay home,” she said in response. “If you’re going to spend $750 to come to my concert, then give me the respect of watching me while I’m doing my thing. Or don’t come!”
Hostin continued to defend the group of fans and justified her argument by arguing that she would want to relive that moment with a picture and the music in the background. Baffled by Hostin’s take, Goldberg tells Hostin to ‘turn on the television, girl’ before deciding to walk off the stage to blow off some steam.
You can watch the entire debate below:
When her co-hosts asked where she was going, she said, “I’m leaving, y’all!” Don’t worry, she had a small grin as she walked off and wasn’t going too far. In fact, she walked up to a 91-year-old woman in the audience and took a selfie with her before taking the show to a commercial. “And we’ll be right back!”
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For those that haven’t been following the selfie debate over the past few days, what we saw on The View pretty much summarizes how the debate has gone online. Some people are siding with the fans and are calling Lambert’s reaction harsh, while others are siding with Miranda and feel like she was disrespected.