Whoopi Goldberg's Hypocrisy

Recently, on an episode of "The View," the panel was discussing Nikki Minaj's controversial video, "Only," because of complaints from some viewers that it had Nazi-like imagery. The video showed Minaj speaking in front of a crowd, of which I can only assume are her fans, with a red and white flag with the letter "M" on it. Understandably, this makes some people cringe. But the most surprising aspect of this is Whoopi Goldberg's response on "The View." Whoopi accused Minaj of being ignorant and not even knowing what the Holocaust was. She then went on to accuse not only Minaj, but her entire generation, of being ignorant of what the Holocaust was. This is odd coming from Goldberg, who in 2006 and 2010 relentlessly defended Mel Gibson when he was caught in antisemitic, homophobic and racist rants, in addition to violently threatening his wife. Goldberg said, "I know Mel, and I know he's not racist. I can't say that he's a racist, having spent time with him, in my house, with my kid, I can't say it." Newsflash, Ms. Goldberg: just because someone is nice to you personally does not mean that they don't have any internalized bias towards certain groups of people as a whole. Yes, the imagery in Nikki Minaj's video is decidedly problematic. But I think it's hypocritical, coming from Whoopi Goldberg, who seems to only say something when it's somebody she does not consider to be a personal friend.