Whoopi Goldberg Calls Out Bill O’Reilly’s Allegation of ‘Reverse McCarthyism’ in Hollywood

On Wednesday morning, Whoopi Goldberg took aim at Bill O’Reilly on “The View,” singling out comments he made on “The O’Reilly Factor” the night before. O’Reilly had accused Hollywood as a community of engaging in “reverse McCarthyism” to scare musicians from performing at Donald Trump’s inauguration by branding his supporters as “bad people.” O’Reilly claimed that “a number of entertainers believe their careers will be harmed, should they associate with the new Trump administration,” a situation that he branded “an awful state of affairs.”

“If you don’t vote for people who don’t support you probably won’t get turned down as much,” she said. “I know that one of the people that supported Donald Trump was Ted Nugent. So, why isn’t Ted Nugent performing? He’s one of your big supporters.” Panelist Jedediah Bila didn’t necessarily agree with O’Reilly invoking McCarthyism, but she did cite conservative entertainers who had told her they were afraid to be public about their politics for professional reasons.

That said, Goldberg pointed out that a big part of Trump’s issues in finding inauguration performers has been his team going after liberal performers and not conservatives in the first place. “Stop going after the lefties to come perform if you think it’s going to be an issue,” she said. “If you want people to support you, go after your supporters. Don’t go after the people who clearly did not support you and label them as being bad.”

[Photo: “The View” screen grab]

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