On the Thursday (October 7) episode of The View, businesswoman Barbara Corcoran was a guest alongside fellow Shark Tank stars Daymond John and Marc Cuban. While there to promote the latest season of the hit series, she made an off-color joke about Whoopi Goldberg’s body that was deemed anything but funny.
It all started when the newest and first Black guest “shark” on the show, Emma Grede, was brought up. She is the co-founder of popular jeans company Good American and a founding partner in shape and loungwear line SKIMS. Grede will join the roster of great minds in business helping budding entrepreneurs (with good ideas) take their companies to the next level. When guest View co-host and political commentator Ana Navarro complimented Grede’s jeans saying they’re for “every body,” Whoopi said she would try them on one condition.
“Will they fit this COVID [butt]?” she jokingly said of her body, to which Navarro and fellow host Sunny Hostin agreed they would because they fit them, too.
“Ok! If they fit two COVID butts, we’ll be fine.”
That’s when Corcoran decided to chime in, directing her comment to Whoopi.
“And when you get finished with those jeans and decide you don’t like them, give them to me, I’m going to make two pairs [laughs].”
The audience immediately knew the comment was inappropriate, groaning rather than laughing. As for the comedy legend, her face looked upset, then confused, then slightly unbothered. That’s when Navarro stepped in to point out something about Corcoran’s attire.
“Let me just tell you something,” she said. “Sara Haines and Jill Biden wore that dress already on TV! Don’t come for me!”
The moment occurred around the 4:33 mark:
The consensus on social media, because Whoopi’s name began to trend on Twitter, was that the comment was rude. Word got around fast enough that by the end of the day, Corcoran issued a statement, on camera, saying she was sorry if people were offended.
“I just came back from The View and saw my old friend Whoopi. As you well know she has a phenomenal sense of humor and I’ve known Whoopi for years. I made a joke at Whoopi’s expense, which I now realize wasn’t funny. For anyone who I may have offended unintentionally, I just want to say I really am very sorry.”
Whoopi took to her comments to be gracious, saying, “we have been friends forever and I know your humor, I knew you were kidding.”
But as people pointed out, that kind of humor shouldn’t be encouraged. Whoopi, in the last couple of years, has been through COVID quarantine, like the rest of us. In addition to that though, she’s had a few high profile health scares, from deadly pneumonia and sepsis to sciatica pain that was so “horrible” she was hospitalized for it. With that being said, if she put on some weight while getting back on the mend, that’s her business and she can joke about it if she wants—but not anyone else.