Whoopi Goldberg Sparks On-Air Controversy by Ripping Up Producers' Note About Trump

Whoopi Goldberg caused a stir on live television Monday morning after tearing up a note from producers during "The View."
The outburst came after Goldberg made a joking remark about former President Donald Trump using an "autopen" to sign a recent pardon — a comment that show staff quickly tried to correct.
The tense moment unfolded as Goldberg and her co-hosts discussed Trump's appearance on CBS's "60 Minutes."
During the conversation, co-host Sunny Hostin mentioned Trump's pardon of Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, who had been convicted of financial crimes.
Hostin pointed out that Trump claimed in the interview he "didn't know" who Zhao was, despite signing the pardon himself.
"How come you don't know who this guy is?" Hostin asked. Goldberg quickly quipped, "Because he used an autopen," drawing laughs from the audience, DailyMail reported.
An autopen is a device that automatically signs documents with a stored signature. It's often used by presidents for large batches of letters or pardons.
WATCH: Whoopi Goldberg snaps on live TV after being corrected for lying about President Trump using an autopen for pardons.
— David J Harris Jr (@DavidJHarrisJr) November 3, 2025
“What the h*ll! It was a joke!” she insisted, while ripping up the producer’s note.
That’s not “nuance”, that’s called lying.pic.twitter.com/NId2yqQro8
Whoopi Goldberg Shreds Producer's Note Mid-Show
Moments later, Hostin received a small note from producers and passed it to Goldberg.
Reading it aloud, Goldberg said, "We don't know if Trump used an autopen to pardon." She looked surprised, then added sharply, "It was a joke!" before ripping the paper into pieces.
Frustrated, Goldberg addressed the audience directly. "The hardest thing about this job now is no one understands nuance," she said.
"You know when you hear a joke — when somebody's fooling around and not saying something specific. Especially on this show, I'm very specific when I'm pointing stuff out. When I'm making jokes, you know when I'm making jokes. This is ridiculous."
According to reports, the note Hostin handed Goldberg came directly from "The View's" production team, who wanted to make sure viewers understood that the claim about Trump and the autopen wasn't verified. ABC representatives have not yet commented on the incident.
Goldberg's reaction comes amid growing pressure on "The View" to tone down political commentary about Trump.
Sources previously told Page Six that producers had asked the co-hosts to "go easy" on Trump-related discussions following ABC's recent layoffs.
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