Whoopi Goldberg defended Malia Obama after social media users trolled the former first daughter for not using her famous last name to promote her first short film.
“Apparently some folks online are criticizing her for it, claiming everyone knows she’s an Obama, so it’s pointless to hide it,” Goldberg said on “The View” Wednesday of former President Barack Obama’s eldest daughter going by Malia Ann professionally.
“If she knows she’s an Obama, why do you care? Why do you care what she calls herself? If she wanted to call herself Jeanette MacDonald, she has the right to! If I can be Whoopi Goldberg, she can be whoever the hell she wants to be!” the EGOT winner proclaimed as her co-hosts and the audience applauded.
Goldberg, 68, said she did not understand why people were “triggered” by Malia’s decision to use her middle name for her directorial debut, “The Heart,” which premiered last month at the Sundance Film Festival.
“This is a grown woman! She is not thinking about her parents!” the “Sister Act” star added after Sara Haines praised Malia, 25, for creating her own “little wedge.”
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Alyssa Farah Griffin chimed in and pointed out that Malia is in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.
“If she went as Malia Obama, it’d be, ‘She’s riding her parent’s coattails,’ and I can’t think of a bigger shadow to feel like you’re living in than the president and first lady of the United States. She’s trying to carve her own course in a new field that she’s been pursuing,” Farah Griffin, 34, said.
Goldberg once again chimed in to tell people to “leave this child alone — leave her alone!”
Meanwhile, Sunny Hostin argued that Malia is doing her best to combat nepotism by leaving out her last name.
“She says, ‘No, I want to make it on my own.’ Isn’t that what people want? Pick yourself up by the bootstraps, do your own thing, don’t cash in on your name,” Hostin, 55, said.
Goldberg agreed and told haters they have “too much time” on their hands.
“You wanna be worried about something? Worry about who’s running for president. Worry about that! This girl is a filmmaker, and she’s doing her own thing,” the “Color Purple” star said.
“I don’t understand why people feel the need to crush other people’s dreams,” she added. “You know, when people do that to you, it crushes you. Can you stop?!”
Goldberg ended the conversation by encouraging viewers to “worry about” more pressing issues rather than “this girl who’s doing her thing.”
Barack and his wife, Michelle Obama, who celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary in October 2023, are also the parents of 22-year-old daughter Sasha Obama.
Malia’s decision to ditch her last name seems to be personal for Goldberg, who uses a stage name.
The “Lion King” voice actress told the Washington Post in 1984 that she does not go by her real name, Caryn Elaine Johnson, in order to keep her “personal life personal.”
“I’m protecting my family,” she explained at the time. “As it is now, I can go home and live as this other person, and even though I might look like Whoopi Goldberg on the street, I can whip out my driver’s license and say, ‘Hey, but I’m not.'”
