Whoopi Goldberg Blames Oscars Viewers For Cut Categories on ‘The View’

Last month, it was announced that eight categories that are typically honored at the Academy Awards each year are going to be cut from the live broadcast during this year’s ceremony. The awards for for documentary short, film editing, makeup/hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live action short and sound will all be given out in the hour before the telecast airs, and the winners will be edited into the show. The decision to cut the categories has been widely criticized by both fans and filmmakers.

But on today’s episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg said that the blame for this move lies squarely on Oscar viewers, many of whom are not film buffs, but are just there to see celebrities on the red carpet. “Part of this is our fault as people who watch,” Whoopi said before launching into what she considers the three main reasons the show is making this kind of adjustment.

“We’ve kvetched and moaned about the fact that the Oscars take seven hours to watch… Then we had issues ’cause Covid stepped in. Then there’s the last issue, which is really, what I think has put a choke hold on this… Every awards show, you see people in their gowns, in their hair, and they’re doing the same thing. So you have nine awards shows before you get to the Oscars and people are fatigued by the time they get there… It feels passé to people.”

Co-host Ana Navarro cut in to add that viewership is also down. When Goldberg hosted the Oscars in the 1990s, viewership topped out at 48 million, whereas in 2020, the Oscars only had 18 million viewers. Navarro went on to add that, “part of the problem is that they wait for Best Picture until the very end. Maybe if they do it at the beginning– ”

Goldberg cut Navarro off, explaining, “They tried that. No, no. The people who watch the Oscars, watch the Oscars for a reason. They’re the people who are the film lovers. Film lovers want to know Best Hair. Film lovers want to know Best Sound. They want that. People who are just watching to see who’s wearing what, those are the people that leave after the first ten minutes of the show.”

“Just lastly,” Goldberg, who was feeling the passion in the moment, added. “People always kvetch about the fact that some movie they’ve never heard of, blah, blah, blah. Well, the reason that happens is that what we’re looking for… We’re looking for those movies that are doing the things that show you the artistry… You can find them sometimes in the big blockbusters, but not as often. It is a show about movie lovers.”