“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg addressed the controversy and criticism of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan being allowed to share a stage with former President Bill Clinton and other prominent Democrats at Aretha Franklin’s funeral last Friday.
Goldberg on Tuesday defended the move because Franklin’s family invited him to take part in the ceremony. As noted by Atlanta Black Star, recalling the hours-long event, Goldberg weighed in how Clinton caught heat because of the controversial religious leader.
“You’re bitchin’ about this, you need to call the [Franklin] family,” she said on “The View.”
“Because the family invited Farrakhan there. They know him, there’s a reason he was there — and you don’t get up off a dais when you’ve been invited there to celebrate that person’s life.”
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“It’s not about Bill Clinton or Louis Farrakhan. It’s all about Aretha,” Goldberg added, drawing applause from the audience.
She also stressed to the critics: “you can’t control everything.”
“Everybody needs to just pull back — just pull it back, you know, and understand that this is — we don’t control everything. The family decided this was what they wanted, and that’s what they set up.”
A bit later, Behar jumped in to ask: “Why are they criticizing Clinton? Why not Sharpton and Jesse Jackson? They were there, too.”
Hear what else the ladies had to say about the issue via the clip above.
Meanwhile, Farrakhan shared his reaction to Franklin’s homegoing on Twitter, “I was honored to be among the many who attended the beautiful funeral services in Detroit for our dear sister Aretha Franklin,” he said. “She could never know how many lives her songs, her soul, have actually saved.
I was honored to be among the many who attended the beautiful funeral services in Detroit for our dear sister Aretha Franklin. She could never know how many lives her songs, her soul, have actually saved. https://t.co/TKDNmMYuEe pic.twitter.com/5FFBD4hNAo
— MINISTER FARRAKHAN (@LouisFarrakhan) September 1, 2018
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