Whoopi Quotes

(when asked by Chris Matthews if what thought about Whoopi Goldberg`s remarks at a John Kerry fundraiser that resulted in her being fired as a spokesman for SlimFast) I wasn`t there. I went to the Los Angeles fundraiser. I wasn`t in the one in New York. I think when you have somebody -- you know, if you did a rock concert that was a benefit and The Who played their music or The Rolling Stones, you`d expect to get, you know, "Satisfaction" or "My Generation." When you hire Whoopi Goldberg, you`re going to get her brand of humor. And I think there is a fine line, and you have to be a little bit mindful. And I, for one, am not going to do any scatological jokes or puns about the president`s last name on your show, mostly for that reason. But I also think I expect a different code of behavior maybe from comedians who have made a career with a certain kind of comedy than I do from, oh, say, the Vice President of the United States (referring to Vice President [Dick Cheney, who told Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy to "Go fuck yourself" on the floor of the Senate), who used this vulgar language, you know, to a senator and was sort of unapologetic about it. So I think the Republicans hitting her (Whoopi) too hard for that is a little bit hypocritical.

(in 1994 interview, on how she got cast in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987)) I did it because, frankly, I couldn`t get any other work then. I liked the show, so I asked if I could be on it. As a matter of fact, I asked twice. The first time, I sent a message to LeVar Burton asking him to tell the producers that I would really like to be on the show. He got the message to the producers and they said, "Yeah, right. Whoopi wants to do "Star Trek". One of the members (Gates McFadden) left the show and I heard about it, so I approached the show`s producers again and said, "Listen, I don`t know if you know it or not, but I`ve been trying for a long time now to get on this show." They said LeVar had told them about it and they thought he was kidding. I told them I can`t do all the episodes but I would like to do some of them. "Can I have the job?" They finally said, "Sure, we`ll build you a bar". And they built me Ten-Forward. I got to go in and be really sage and wear great hats. I also got to hang out with some extraordinary people, like Patrick Stewart, LeVar and Jonathan Frakes.

Whoopi Goldberg is a blazing trail for black women - for just black anything to be successful. Still, I often ask myself if I have to be a 30-year-old ex-junkie who lived in Berkeley and did stand-up comedy in Germany, before I can get some respect.

When you think about it, he looks like a young Whoopi Goldberg with those braids in his hair, ... But Chris is such a good athlete. He`s smart, and he`s patient, too. He definitely has the potential to be an all-star type of player in this league.