Whoopi Goldberg is quickly becoming an advocate for men who inflict domestic violence upon women. You may recall back in May, during the Solange Knowles-and-Jay Z elevator fight, that Goldberg said Jay Z had every right to hit Solange back.
“I think Solange was quite ready for him to do whatever he was going to do,” Goldberg said. “This is the thing: If anybody hits you, you have the right—I know that many people are raised in a very different way—but if a woman hits you, to me, you have the right to hit her back.”
Now Goldberg is singing the same song, but to the tune of a different celebrity caught up in his own domestic violence comments.
Last Friday, during an episode of ESPN’s First Take, Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless had a heated debate over the Baltimore Ravens’ suspension of Ray Rice for two games. Many people felt the suspension was too lenient, especially since video captured Rice dragging his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, out of an elevator unconscious.
Smith’s perspective fell within two stances. Even though he stated that a man should never hit a woman under any circumstances, he also stated that he tells the women in his family that they should never “provoke” a man.
Smith’s comments didn’t gain him any new fans, and days later he issued an apology. But in Goldberg’s eyes, Smith didn’t say anything wrong, and Rice, well, since he was also hit by Palmer, he had every right to hit her back.
“If you make the choice as a woman who’s 4 foot 3 and you decide to hit a guy who’s 6 feet tall and you’re the last thing he wants to deal with that day and he hits you back, you cannot be surprised!” Goldberg stated on The View.
Although the other hosts vehemently disagreed with Goldberg, she stood firm in her opinion. “I know I’m going to catch a lot of hell, and I don’t care. But you have to teach women, do not live with this idea that men have this chivalry thing still with them; don’t assume that that is still in place.”
I think Goldberg has made it perfectly clear which side of the domestic violence issue she stands on.
Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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