Whoopi Goldberg Calls Out Anti-LGBTQ Bigotry After Target Moves Pride Month Collection: ‘I’m Sick Of It’

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Whoopi Goldberg fired back at different moves that have been made to censor the LGBTQ community during a “Hot Topic” discussion on The View on Wednesday, May 24. The show’s co-hosts were discussing moves by Target to move their Pride collection to the back of some stores, after some employees received threats. Whoopi called out the people making threats and forcing Target to move the collection. “I’m sick of people moving my desires, because their desires are not being met in some way,” she said.

The View hosts were discussing recent moves by Target to pull some pieces from their Pride collection, following backlash. The company has said that some people have shared videos with threatening messages in some stores, as well as confrontations that people have had with employees. There has also been some backlash to designs by Abprallen, over the designer’s previous uses of occult and satanic-themed imagery, per The Associated Press. “Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work,” the company said in a statement. “Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”

As Whoopi continued, she called out other forms of anti-LGBTQ discrimination that have passed, including bans on drag performances. The comedian pointed out how ridiculous all the hate is. “I’m sick of people telling me I can’t go to a drag show. I’m sick of people telling me my friends are different. I’m sick of it. This is America. You’re supposed to be able to be whoever you are. Stop with all this stuff. You want to talk about snowflakes? Who are the snowflakes really?” she said. “The people who are scared of a flag. The people scared of a drag brunch. It’s a brunch!”

Earlier in the conversation, the hosts went back and forth on whether Target had made the right decision in moving some of the products to different parts of the store especially if the employees were in danger. Whoopi also called out labeling the designer Abprallen as “controversial,” having been called so herself.”They say, ‘Oh you got that on your shirt.’ They don’t know what this is, and you’ve made a decision about it. I’m all for protecting the folks. I don’t know if they called the cops. Maybe they did, and they felt this was the right way,” she said earlier in her message.

Before cutting to the commercial break, Whoopi showed that it was exhausting to continue to fight back against bigotry. “I’m tired of all of this, and I’m trying not to say any bad words,” she said.

Whoopi has long been an advocate for the LGBTQ community, and she opened up about defending their rights in a 2014 interview with Pride Source. “I felt that these were my friends and my people, and no one had a right to judge them. I don’t want people messing with me, so I defend everybody’s right to be themselves,” she said at the time.