Whoopi Goldberg doesn’t hold back when sharing what’s on her mind and the latest word she has is for a film critic. The review, which happened to be the Daily Beast’s take on her upcoming movie Till, mentioned Goldberg wore a “fat suit” in the movie and the actress and TV host decided to set the record straight.
“There was a young lady who writes for one of the magazines, and she was distracted by my fat suit, in her review,” Goldberg said on The View earlier this week. “I don’t really care how you felt about the movie, but you should know that was not a fat suit, that was me. That was steroids. Remember last year? I assume you don’t watch the show, or you would know that was not a fat suit.”
Goldberg continued, “It’s okay to not be a fan of a movie, but you want to leave people’s looks out. Just comment on the acting. And if you have a question, ask somebody. I’m sure you didn’t mean to be demeaning.”
She added, “We will hope that she just didn’t know, and now she’ll know the next time you go to talk about somebody, you can talk about them as an actor. If you’re not sure if that’s them in there, don’t make blanket statements, because it makes you not sound like you know what you’re doing.”
Article continues after video.
Goldberg has been open about her recent health struggles, including overcoming pneumonia and sepsis, and dealing with sciatica, which she’s used steroids for to ease the pain.
Since the EGOT winner’s comments, the editor’s note on the review confirms that it “has been updated to reflect that Whoopi Goldberg says she was not wearing a fat suit.”
The movie, Till, was directed by Chinonye Chukwu and produced by Goldberg, who has prominent scenes in the film playing Mamie Till’s mother, Alma Carthan. In terms of the synopsis, it’s about Mamie, Emmet Till’s mother (played by Danielle Deadwyler), and her pursuit of justice for her son who was abducted, beaten and lynched in 1955 in Mississippi. Goldberg reassured potential viewers worried about violence in the movie, that they shouldn’t be concerned. “If you’re watching Jeffrey Dahmer [Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story] … you’ve seen much more violence than you’ll see in this,” Goldberg said.
“It’s an important film for families because if you are a mother, this could be your child,” she added. Sixty-seven years ago this happened and we’re still in the midst of it.”
Till, which is said to be more than a decade in the making, will be on big screens October 14.
