Whoopi Goldberg clashes with Elizabeth Hasselbeck over blacks use of the N-word

Sandra Rose July 17, 2008

Whoopi Goldberg and fellow co-host of the view, conservative Republican Elisabeth Hasselbeck, go head to head over blacks’ use of the n-word. Whoopi felt that Elisabeth didn’t “get it” that the word has a different meaning when blacks use it as opposed to when other cultures use it. The heated exchange brings Elisabeth to tears: “How are we supposed to move forward if we keep using words that bring back that pain?,” she sobs.

(Video source)

MOCHAMOMMY

I’m afraid to watch the clip b/c Elisabeth is very pushy with her opinions and she doesnt get it when someone else voices theirs…. Wow… Does that sound familiar or what?!
PAHairston

Let me be the first to comment on one of the most sensitive and controversial words in American history, the n-word. Hell, almost er rap/hiphop song uses this word, along with bitch, ho and many other derogatory terms. (Black folks can be so ass backwards sometimes. How can we teach our children what is right and wrong?) How can we get mad at white folks when we use it incessantly? Even the most famous comedian of all times, Sir Richard Pryor denounced using it before he died. Have I ever been called one by a white American? No and I’m 50+ years old. I’ll bet most of you younguns can’t make this statement. And who can you blame if you have been called such? As always, I leave you in peace.
iyonah

I want to watch it but I already know how E can be and my work day is almost over …. so I am going to pass for now. BTW Whoppi amkes a great addition to the show … way better than Star ever was IMO
NYCUTIE

I understand the point that both parties are trying to get across BUT I don’t agree with the explanation of why we use the word..
ckarinwhite

I watched the clip and agree with Whoopi’s comments…IMO, Jesse Jackson is a hypocrite, especially when he attended the NAACP funeral of the N-word and used in reference to President Barack Obama…Personally, I don’t use the N-word….

Elisabeth was crying crocodile tears, she gets an Emmy for her performance….
NYCUTIE

Please watch it because Elizabeth is making some sense in it..
prynsexxx

Is anybody in the Mo’Nique show chat room. It is off the chain.

Oh I hope they agreed to disagree. I suppose.

The Mo’Nique show chatroom is the bomb.

You have to get there by 3 in order to get in. It fills up fast and only holds 80 ppl.

*be back later – i think*
bcsmiamic

the white girl was making some sense but whoopi was too….i respected her (white girl) argument but she has to realize that it is what it is…
truthhurts717

I REALLY think that we all need to just stop using it. When you have white folks saying “but why can ya’ll say it but we can’t.” Then its time to dead it and make up a new word.

I understand the different in “us” using it than “them” using. It’s like when my girls call me and be like “What up h*e?” I’m gonna be like “nothing b*tch.” But I wish somebody else would call me that and I see it the same way that I see it coming from one of my homegirls.

The word needs to be retired, deaded and then there will be no more questions asked. It’s too many of “them” that act so dumb and confused about our culture and how we do things, it’s annoying as hell.
Vegas Dice

The black term “ni99a” seems like it will hit the Webster’s Dictionary soon..

Everyone uses it. I’ve heard blacks, hispanics, asians, and whites use it. (Only heard whites use it to refer to their black ni99a’s, but heard hispanics and asians calling each other ni99a’s).

With all the hip hop heads using it in the songs, how can we expect others not to use it??

The word is universal, you can use it differently for different situations. We made it that way.

As long as it ends with a “A” and not an “ER”, I don’t care.
toosexy

you know i’m really going to have to say i don’t know i understand both sides even though i haven’t watched it yet, but i know i am guilty of using it, i have tried to curve it but some say why not take a word they thought could hurt us and make it own own. do you think it bothers them more that it doesn’t effect us anymore to the point we use it ourselves? i don’t know. but i can say i am guitly of using it.
sdsthomas

I have no words for Elisabeth. But I would like to say that Al and Jesse criticized this word and burried it. Hell, they even had some of my friends talking about they weren’t going to say it anymore. But I find it hard not to say, especially when you deal with stupid n**ggas, low-down dirty n**ggas, lazy n**ggas, and most of all beesh-azz n**ggas on a regular. I see them on the regular and have yet to find more appropriate words to describe them. They is what they is! Jesse and Al need to get together and dig up that so-called burial! Ole’ hypocrite!
iyonah

What if all the words used to describe our people evoked emotion and passion like the n-word?
toosexy

#vegas yea the ending makes the diff,but another thing nigger means ignorant right? so why do we keep letting them think this word applies to us?
truthhurts717

What about b*tch *ss n*ggas? I hate them more than anything and it’s like you said what other word could we come up with to describe them?
http://www.myspace.com/bettathaniwasb4 2bme

It’s not going to change we’ve been using it well beyond rappers..ever heard of the 60’s and 70’s? I’m quite certain it was used by our own before then..the issue is with all these rappers hitting mainstream it’s brought the word to the forefront..Black people have embraced this word and will continue doing so
ggouch

“How are we supposed to move forward if we keep using words that bring back that pain?,” she sobs.
___________________________________________________________
Can you say 40 acres and a MULE…that’s how we move forward LIZ!!!
sdsthomas

Ur right 2bme. “Ur my n*gga” means more to me than “I love you.”

Wow! Thatz sad!
prynsexxx

#5 said:

Elisabeth was crying crocodile tears
___________________________________________

She’s always crying. Whoopi just better hope that she has a job come Friday. Hasn’t she learned from Rosie ala the gay/lesbian and Star the black who was married to a gay.

Words only have the power that you give to them.

#9 said:

It’s like when my girls call me and be like “What up h*e?” I’m gonna be like “nothing b*tch.”
__________________________________________

Now thats one thing I won’t adhere to, another person, friend or foe, greeting me with “term of endearment” as “h o e” or “b!tch” playing or otherwise. I think that is as ghetto and non-traditional as ever.

I don’t even say “hello” when answering the phone. Why? Well b/c HELL is LOW.
Sharonda

It’s not rappers fault, the people who used it before holds much more key responsibility.They learned it from somewhere.In that case, everyone is responsible for the use of it so there should be no pin pointing because quite frankly I’m about tired of it.Either way most will see us just “niggers” even if we not in the hood.Like Samuel Jackson said in school daze.It’s just the way it is.The thing is, it’s not if they use it because if they don’t they always can keep it to themselves behind closed doors.
JrzeeMa

Whoopi sounds stupid Im sorry its a negative word no matter who uses it. And all the KKK members are sitting back laughing like look we got these folks callin each other N****.

Its a shame and if i here my child say it id rip her tounge out her throat! okay im kidding but the point is people that use the word in a casual manner sund just as ignorant as the dumb racist pigs that use it
ReadTheBlog

Hassleback is a fake, fraud and racist in sheeps clothing. Ain’tnobody foole dby her teary antics – she just putting on airs.
http://myspace.com/latituded400 H-Town Shan

LOL @ MOCHAMOMMY for sliding that comment in right under the radar.

As far as the *N* word goes, I do believe it is different when we use it versus when they use it. Personally, I don’t think anyone should be using it. A couple years ago I made a conscious effort to use COLORED or NEGRO in it’s place. This is my own personal preference and I’m sure one or more of you will even find that offensive.
http://myspace.com/mullatos SnootyPooty1

I know that I am the minority when it comes to this word but I hate it!!! I dont use this word at all!!!!
My grandparents shared some of their experiences with me about growing up in Texas and the N- word and as a result I have a strong resolve not to use that word ever!!!!!!
However it is a personal decision….
IamdaQueen

I agree with Whoopi. Black people took an offensive word and turned it around and used it in a way that it doesn’t hurt us anymore and white people are mad about it. They are mad because now we have the upper hand when it comes to saying it. They can’t say it without catching a beat down because they don’t use it the same way that we do. Although I do feel that if you have friends that are white but have “black swagger”, then they should be able to use it “nigga” not “gger” without suffering consequences.

The whole point is to take away the original power that the word once held, which is what was done. That’s the whole purpose of pronouncing and spelling it differently, because it means something different.
JrzeeMa

Wait whoopi doesnt sound as stupid as sherry did ! lol
Sharonda

And Whoopi is right, in terms, we don’t live in the same world.When you have a black man with no criminal record with a degree, but companies would rather hire a white man with a criminal history and no degree of his skin.And it’s true.

Oh I’m touching off topic, but that’s just regards to what Whoopi said.
candycane

18sdsthomas Says:

Ur right 2bme. “Ur my n*gga” means more to me than “I love you.”

Wow! Thatz sad!

******************
Sad but true. I remember when Meth & Mary did Your All I Need. When Meth said I got mad love to give you my n*gga. I thought that was the sweetest thing.

I think black people saying freely and getting offended when whites or other races use it. Is, to me, like saying something bad about a family memeber or someone close, but get mad when someone else says it. Like, I can talk bad about my family all I want but YOU better not.

People arent going to stop saying it. People just learn when and where to use it.
kamini

Well I am 30+ and I was called a n*gger when I was in elementary school, the only black child at this school. Playing on the playground I was, and sure enough this little white boy got upset and the first thing that came out of his mouth was that word. Have I been called it since, no. But please don’t think that people don’t use this word. They still do, maybe not to our face but only because they are not long brave enough…
Lucy

@H-Town. And you are correct. Negro I can deal with but colored I find that more offensive than the N word. We are all some color or another so to whom would you apply that to?
kalvonel

I can se both points. If we are to reach a time when we’re all “together” than the word should be retired. The word obviously causes a division, but in the words of Paul Mooney- “I’ve been called it so many times, I’ll say it as many times as I feel.” I think white folks just need to learn and accept that “nigga” is a word they can’t say. why can’t they say it? Mainly because when they do, it is meant as a derogatory term. Everytime a white person has called me a nigga/nigger it was because THEY wanted to make me feel inferior.
PAGESINADIARY

exactly… why do we say that cant use it but we do? lets just stop using it!!! damn it!!
hellava10

The problem is that it has become ‘common’. When things become common – out go the rules, regulations, and boundaries from where it was contained (meaning used by them to degrade us).
Vegas Dice

Bottom line: the word is common, many people use it..

If you went to Jay-Z concert, the whole building was screaming it.. All races.

Hell, I could’ve sworn I heard Beyonce say “If I bought it ‘ni99a’ please don’t touch” on Irreplaceable.
It was kinda low, but listen again!
MOCHAMOMMY

This is a never-ending argument…
http://myspace.com/mullatos SnootyPooty1

@MOCHAMOMMY.. You are right!!!!!
Sharonda

Oh Mocha it is.I can’t believe Jesse jackson actually thought “Fox” news would treat him fair, hhhhhaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaa on his behalf.I already knew they was gonna set his ass up.Hello!
krbinc

elizabeth be calling barack a ni99er all day behind our back
MOCHAMOMMY

@ Sharonda…. He really thought that ish too… Did Hasselbeck think her tears were gonna stop the black race from using the word?I dont think the word will ever vanish from our everyday conversation. If anything, all races will think its ok & use it willy nilly. Hispanics & Arabs (or whatever DJ Khaled is, I know it aint black) already do & no one has said anything or fought him on it. When J Lo said it, it was such an issue. White America picks & chooses who can use that word, not us (IMO)
MAJAHINEVERYWAY

I really enjoyed the exchange between the both of them. I am happy they had a passionate conversation about it, but until caucasian people acknowledge our right to feel certain ways about our past and not just “be happy” that things are a bit better now, we will never live in the same world. Kudos to both of them though for the passionate exchange. BTW, I really can’t stand Elizabeth’s views. Everytime I can kind of understand some of her conservative statements being a wife and mother of small children myself, she loses me with an idiotic staement to follow.
NYCUTIE

Mocha, if you are not already in the kona, please report over there as soon as possible! LMMFAO @ the DJ Khaled remark!!!
TsC

Hasselbeck and others should listen to Nas’s album…maybe from there yall get it…
MOCHAMOMMY

LMAO!! What did I do?! My friends & I argue about this all the time… I always wondered when Hispanics, Arabs, Armenians & all the other “non-white” races becames n*ggas (dont think Kim K hasnt called Reggie a n!gga & laughed after she did it)
scorpio

Hasselbeck..only started to cry because she couldn’t fight Whoppi’s knowledge of the use of the word. I think it should not be used, but Hasselbeck needs to stop.
ThatCarmen

“How are we supposed to move forward if we keep using words that bring back that pain?,”

GTFOH ELIZABETH! What pain has this chick ever felt over the use of that word??? Seriously! Everytime she is in an argument and looses her train of thought and can nolonger be articulate, she starts crying. This is not an argument that any white person can win….ever. This is something we will have to fight out as a black community. Elizabeth and I do not live in the same world. If she worked for my company in the same position I am in, her world here would be different than the one I am living/working in. I am the only black person and although treated very well, …it is obvious that I am not apart of the standard culture in the office…..which I like so, Im not complaining. Elizabeth is a conservative blind Republican…. Her views are much of her parents and its obvious she has not done much to break into her own person as she always sounds the same on every topic. Bitc* please go sit down in your nice white world and leave black issues to us…..no black person will stop using that word because it hurts Elizabeth fuc*ing Hasselbeck.

Dont nobody ever say Sandra is not diverse on here cause we’ve gotten everything from trina, to Trick/Luke’s freak, to Kanye, to the Rev’s family, and now Whoopie and a delusional white woman.
http://myspace.com/mullatos SnootyPooty1

@ThatCarmen… Are you in the corner yet? If not please let me escort you!!! (Me and you neva part)
ThatCarmen

No corner for me, … I gotta get these statements outta here today …. Ive just learned how to work and post at the same time… Yay me! Plus, ya’ll listening to mofo-ing Trina and got posters up of the boy-body chick that is now Trick-dummy’s wife… It has been lesbian heaven up in here today… No thank you! If I dont get some good wood tomorrow, I will not be a happy blogger!
Sharonda

Bitc* please go sit down in your nice white world and leave black issues to us…..no black person will stop using that word because it hurts Elizabeth fuc*ing Hasselbeck.

^Lol.Oh my!!!!!!!!!
scorpio

@ThatCarmen….you hit the nail on the head..she only started crying because Whoopi shut her down..and she couldn’t articulate a comeback, Whoopi won the fight..So she thinks by starting to cry it’s showing some sort of Oooh she’s really hurt that the word is still being used. So Fake. And I can definelty understand being at work and not being a part of the “standard” culture. You don’t even have to be a work just look at TV, and Advertising.
Black Bauer

I saw the show, and its funny that she cant understand blacks using the word nigger, but a few minutes before that, Joy used the word bitch, and everybody laughed……….
katgirl33

Vegas Dice Says:

The black term “ni99a” seems like it will hit the Webster’s Dictionary soon..

___________________________________________________________

It’s already listed in the unabridged version.
http://www.myspace.com/millyly milly

I agree with the white girl…I dont use because I understand the history of the word, a lot of people unfortunatly dont
http://myspace.com/sfh50millionpounds mj

Elisabeth Hasselback is so irritating! I have no words for her attitude. Her tears piss me off.
I cannot understand why someone that grew up outside of the black culture can attempt to say what words we should and should not use. And then to say that we all live in the same world. What a shejerk!
Im not saying the word is right or wrong but I am saying it is NOT for a white person to decide.
http://TheBeatniksCelebrityGossip.com Seattle Slim

Milly I am with you. And if it doesn’t “hurt” us anymore, why can’t white people say it? Also, why do we raise hell when it is said? I cannot say it. Its hard for me to say. Now when I talk about soulja boy or other tragic negroids I will use it to emphasize that they are not my people. Black israelites calling black women whores are niggas. But as a collective we need to drop it. What’s up with calling each other terms that equal self-love. Sister, brother, queen, king, prince, princess. The use of that word on a regular for sh+ts and giggles is a reflection of how african americans see themselves.
Lisa

We’re all entitled to our opinions, well here’s mine. So many of you sound STUPID, just stupid we use the word nigga, it doesn’t mean the same as nigger, we can say it, they can’t. Use some common freakin sense! We are the only ethnicity that demeans ourselves like this.

There are words that you just can’t make a positive: CANCER, MURDER, SUICIDE, The N-word. Although when the n word is used amongst blacks it isn’t used in a negative connotation, but why use that word? People say what’s up my nigga. Why not say what’s up? The word is used just because, but it doesn’t need to be used at all. You wanna get mad because a white person says it. Screw that! Last I looked it wasn’t whites killing us, we’re killing each other. Let them be racist, let us be educated!!!!
kdillon

The word shouldn’t be used at all! NIgger, Nigga, and Niglet all mean the same thing. Blacks were hung, burned alive, starved, beaten, and enslaved while being called the three above names. Just because there is an “A” there and not “ER” that just means bad english, slang but all mean the same. We cannot expect others to stop using it if we use it, others do not understand why we use it and the purpose for it but their still looking at us disgusted because we have played on their words. Like with children if you tell them not to cuss, you cant cuss…..people should lead by example. White suburban kids are the main ones buying Hip Hop music with N Word usage, walking around rapping the lyrics….we should not be cool with this. I was in vegas around the time The Dave Chappelle show aired and two white guys were walking behind me talking the THE NIGGER FAMILY, this is also not okay. We should not be using the word.
Sharonda

There are words that you just can’t make a positive: CANCER, MURDER, SUICIDE, The N-word.

^ I TOTALLY disagree with that statement.Well the cancer part.People with cancer can either to say “I have cancer” and sit and whine about it and there are those that said “I have cancer but I can do something about it.I’m not going to let it stop me” If you choose to stay back and let negative things cloud your head and your life then hey, nobody should complain.If something is negative in your life, you make it positive.I just can’t believe words still hurt.I don’t use it.I don’t respond to it.But either way people going to see us as n***** (with the er) still, even our own kind.

And everybody knows nothing positive about murder, no need to gerren that.
blkdiamonn

I just happened to watch the View this morning…and was about to walk out the room when Whoopi brought up Jesse Jackson. I turned back around and sat down, and was just in shock as this debate escalated. At first it seemed innocent enough and then it went there..lol!! Whoopi has a very strong and dominate personality, and clearly has little respect for Elizabeth. I can honestly say that I understand both points but, for once Elizabeth was making a good pint until she let Whoopi break her down!! WTF was she crying for anyway? I wish that we could get past the use of a word and get to the core root of the issues facing minorities in this country. I am glad that had a passionate debate and that Whoopi really articulated things about living in this country as an African-American person that whites needed to hear. I am also glad that Barbara was there today to kind of moderate a bit! But, what was up with Joy? She usually so outspoken but she was like a mute..lol!! And Sherri…let’s just say I’m glad that Whoopi is there to validate her because she is something like an airhead..a little on the ditzy side!!

Bottom line is that Black people are hypocrites when it comes to this word. We complain about it being used in rap songs, we complain when other races use it, yet we use it as a term of endearment with each other! This is going to be a never ending debate…people will never stop using it making that whole burial fiasco a joke!! We will never fully accept it or reject it so wtf is the issue??? We need to really build a bridge and get over it!!
blkdiamonn

Oh and one more thing?

Why do we get mad when a white person says Nigger or nigga in reference to the word, not calling someone one. ie Barbara couldnt say it on her show in reference to the debate but, Whoopi could say it freely as many times as she wanted? Or a white kid going to the record store and saying “I want to buy Nas’s NIGGER CD”? Or someone singing the lyrics of a song, “that’s my nigga…!!” I’m confused myself to be honest?
lexdiamonz

i may be the minority on this but i never thought of myself as the n-word so it never dawned on me because life has always given black folk have always made lemonade so we have ALWAYS turned a negative do you all not see the big picture this is just another one of the white man’s tactics to create division in our community we have a black man running for prez so they pulling out all the stops to each its own
lexdiamonz

i meant lemons my bad also i am black and i was the only black kid in my class at one point but i feel like we can say stop using the n-word is like telling people to start recycling before we kill the planet some are going to do it some are not
LADYTEA

I myself feel it’s o.k. for Afican Americans to use the word, I feel like other races shouldn’t, maybe this is some unspoken oath from the beginning of time.. It’s a word the white people put on us when they were slaving us around.. We took that word and made it our own term of indearment. Afican American come from so little, and have been through so much.
AllICanSay

I am guilty! I am using it less and less. The word doesn’t offend me when listening to my male black friends or when my girls are talking about their lame behinds. But it doen’t make it right! I call other races the N-word more than I do other blacks. And that’s because they are doing some stupid a$$ crap. It’s going to take a very long time to discontinue the use of this word if it were even possible. This word has been in use for 200+ years not just by whites or other races in referring to us, but also by our very own enslaved ancestors. Hell, this is probably most of their very first american word. I have been doing a lot of self study on our black history, because this is the only way we are ever going to know the whole story. But in just reading many slave narratives they referred to each other as the n-word. Until more parents start teaching their children our history and stop relying on Feburary and the contiuned teaching of MLK Jr. and Rosa Parks the word will continue to be used. I could go on and on about how I feel about the history of blacks and the need for each and everyone of us to teach our own but, I guess I’ll save it for a later date. And don’t get me started on the term African-American.

To me the word means dummy/ignorant and when I use it this is what I am referring to, still doesn’t make it right but sometimes it makes me feel hella better.
http://a44.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/33/l_eda163566809fe1928ce821269a4e353.jpg Slimlady727

Whoopi made a great point, Elisabeth makes me sick!
Coop

@PAHairston
@blkdiamonn
@NYCUTIE
@PAGESINADIARY

Elisabeth points are just intelligent form of racism. It is no different then Imus blaming his comment on Hip Hop even though he is 100 years old. It causes people to blame their own.. I have friends that are Spanish, Polish, Jewish, and etc and they make jokes about their own race but that does not give me permission to do the same. The whole if you don’t like the word don’t use it argument is a great racial smoke screen that some of us seem to be blinded by. I do use the word on occasion will continue. ..
brwnsugga4you

i just took time out to watch the clip…for one i can’t stand elizabeth….i do understand what she’s trying to say..but, she doesn’t get what whoopi is trying to say to her. i just think she’s a clueless white chick living in a a white society…and the only people of color she comes in contact with is her two co-hosts during the show. i’m sure she doesn’t hang with any of them after the show is over, or for that matter have in black friends…i can’t even begin to speak on using the “N” word..it’s just too much to type.
http://TheBeatniksCelebrityGossip.com Seattle Slim

Why can’t we use other terms of endearment? Why not terms that reflect our positive history? Again using that word is just another form of ptsd manifesting itself.

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