Whoopi Goldberg didn’t mince words on Wednesday about retail giant Target pulling some Pride month merch amid right-wing media outrage that resulted in threats against store employees.
“You wanna talk about snowflakes? Who are the snowflakes really?!" Goldberg exclaimed, throwing conservatives’ favorite lib-owning insult back in their faces.
Following the overtly transphobic boycott of Bud Light after the beer manufacturer sent a commemorative can to trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, conservative outragers shifted their attention to Target. After the retailer rolled out LGBTQ-inspired apparel ahead of Pride month, far-right media began accusing the company of marketing “tuck-friendly” swimwear for kids with “extra crotch coverage,” pointing to misleading and deceptive videos on social media.
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Despite Target explicitly pointing out that they only offered the bathing suits in adult sizes and they were displayed in specific Pride sections in their stores, prominent conservatives continued to call for the company’s CEO to be prosecuted for being a “pervert groomer.” Eventually, with furious customers—especially in rural and southern states—attacking the displays and threatening employees, Target decided to remove from its shelves some Pride products “that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”
During Wednesday’s broadcast of The View, the panel largely agreed that the outrage from the right was “manufactured” and “ignorant,” adding that the “queer community is being punished” by the latest culture war.
At the same time, conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin noted that Target had come under fire for featuring products made by trans designer Eric Carnell, who occasionally uses Satanic symbols in his designs. (The store has since removed all items made by his brand.)
“They didn’t need to highlight someone who was a controversial designer already,” Griffin asserted, prompting Goldberg to interject.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what controversy means. Having been called controversial for most of my career the last 40 years,” she declared as the in-studio audience applauded.
“People decide what’s controversial and they point and they say, Oh, you got that on your shirt. You don’t know what this is and you’ve made a decision about it,” Goldberg added.
The Oscar-winning actress went on to say that she’s “all for protecting” the Target employees amid the ongoing harassment campaign before taking issue with the right’s full-throated embrace of cancel culture.
“I’m sick of people moving my desires because their desires are not being met in some way. I’m sick of people telling me I can’t go to a drag show,” Goldberg proclaimed as the crowd roared. “I’m sick of people telling me that my friends are different because you don’t understand them. I’m sick of it. This is America. You’re supposed to be able to be whoever you are! You know, stop with all this stuff. You want to talk about snowflakes? Who are the snowflakes really?!”
After co-host Sunny Hostin said that the snowflakes are “people scared of a flag,” Goldberg continued to rail against the right’s anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies.
“The people scared of a flag, people who scared of a drag brunch. It’s a brunch. It’s a brunch!” Goldberg concluded. “I’m getting really tired of this, and I’m trying not to say any bad words.”
