Whoopi Goldberg Reignites Feud With Bill Maher on ‘The View’ Over COVID Jokes: “That’s Not Really Funny”

Whoopi Goldberg had some choice words for noted nemesis Bill Maher on The View today, tearing into the Real Time host for his recent statements about COVID mandates. While the panel discussed RFK Jr.’s anti-vax movement, Goldberg made a point to show Maher’s segment in conjunction, comparing the sentiments of both parties. While Maher may not have been slamming vaccines — he was instead whining about all the mandates and vaccine checks — Goldberg still took major issue with his flippant nature on the matter.

Maher was joined by journalist Bari Weiss and New York Congressman Ritchie Torres for his Season 20 debut on Friday (Jan. 20) night. While the trio lamented the lack of normalcy in the world, the host really laid into COVID mandates. In a clip Goldberg shared on The View, Maher picks apart the idea of masks, vaccine checks, and more.

“I don’t want to live in your paranoid world anymore — your masked, paranoid world,” Maher says. “You go out, it’s silly now! You have to have a mask, you have to have a card, you have to have a booster. They scan your head, like you’re a cashier and I’m a bunch of bananas. I’m not bananas. You are.”

Goldberg, who has feuded with Maher in the past over the Black National Anthem, took some time to lambaste her fellow talk show host over such comments.

“That’s not really funny to people who have lost their kids,” Goldberg said. “To people who have lost family members or dear friends to this. Listen: nobody on the planet really wants to go through this. This is not something we’re doing because it’s sexually gratifying. This is what we’re doing to protect our families.”

The co-host had some advice for Maher. If he doesn’t want to partake in COVID mandates, wear masks, or keep the public safe, he should just stay out of it entirely.

“You don’t have to do it, but stay away from everybody,” Goldberg demanded. “Because if you’re the one who’s not paying attention, and coughing and sneezing, then stay out of the public, man. Nobody wants this. I don’t want it.”

Goldberg continued: “I think he’s forgetting that people are still at risk who cannot get vaccinated — little kids under the age of 5 or people with health conditions,” she said. “How dare you be so flippant, man?”

“They’re over it like a relationship,” Joy Behar cut in. “‘I’m over it, I don’t feel like seeing it anymore,'” she mocked Maher.

Sara Haines joined in, agreeing with her co-hosts and adding that there are some COVID mandates that are actually for the better. The mask-wearing, Haines said, is now an important part of shared public spaces.

“I think there’s a prudence we’ve learned with the masks, the hand sanitizing, that, kind of like 9/11 with flying, is always going to be here now,” Haines shared. “There’s a new normal. In the beginning, post-9/11, people didn’t want to fly. And the security measures felt like, ‘Uh, how do we do this?’ Now it’s the norm.”

Behar was still upset by Maher and his comments, angered by the fact that he’d get mad over Dr. Fauci and the CDC’s recommendations instead of those who are still unvaccinated.

“Another comment that Maher made against Dr. Fauci, why turn your wrath on that?” Behar said. “Why not get mad at people who are refusing to get vaccinated so that these variants can live another day?”

Goldberg had the final word, denouncing both the un-vaccinated population and folks who refuse to comply with mandates by saying they’re “playing Russian roulette” with the lives of little kids and other folks who can’t get vaccinated at this time.

The View airs weekdays on ABC at 11/10c.

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