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Whoopi Goldberg Forced to Clarify President Donald Trump Joke On Air: ‘No One Understands Nuance’
Whoopi Goldberg was forced to clarify a comment she made about President Donald Trump on air during a recent episode of The View.
Goldberg, 69 — along with Sunny Hostin, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro — were discussing President Trump’s Sunday, November 2, interview on 60 Minutes. Hostin brought up the fact that Trump, 79, claimed to not know who Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, a cryptocurrency executive, was despite granting him a pardon after he admitted to breaking anti–money-laundering laws.
“How come you don’t know who this guy is?” Hostin, 57, asked before Goldberg replied, “Because he used an autopen.”
The Ghost star’s remark seemed to imply that Trump wasn’t aware of exactly who he pardoned, and moments later, Hostin passed Goldberg a note across the table during the episode.
“What the hell? What? ‘We don’t know if Trump used an autopen to pardon,’” Goldberg said, reading the note out loud. “It was a joke!”
While Hostin pointed out that they didn’t “know whether Trump used an autopen to pardon” Zhao, Goldberg became visibly frustrated.
“Oh, come on!” she said as she ripped the note into pieces. “Well, I’m sorry. The hardest thing about this job now is [that] no one understands nuance. You know when you hear a joke, when somebody’s fooling around, when they’re 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!”
Goldberg then concluded, “This is ridiculous.”
Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to maintain an effective anti–money-laundering program, a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. As part of the plea deal, Binance agreed to pay more than $4 billion in penalties, while Zhao stepped down as CEO, paid a $50 million fine and later served four months in prison.
Last month, Trump granted Zhao a full pardon. The move raised eyebrows due to reported links between Binance and the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial.
