#OscarsSoAwkward got off to an early start Sunday night when Total Beauty identified Academy Award winner and presenter Whoopi Goldberg as Oprah Winfrey, but there are no hard feelings.
“The View” co-host appeared live via satellite from Los Angeles for Monday’s episode, and brushed off the mis-identification as an honest mistake.
“They could have used an orangutan and said this orangutan has a new tattoo,” she said. “I feel pretty good if you’re comparing me to Oprah, saying I look like Oprah, that’s not a bad thing. It could have been a lot worse.”
Total Beauty’s since-deleted tweet, reading, “We had no idea @Oprah was #tatted, and we love it,” spawned the hashtag “ThatsNotOprah and drew a reaction from Winfrey herself.
The media mogul’s best friend Gayle King posted a photo of Winfrey at home on her couch, looking befuddled at the tweet in question on her phone. It’s captioned: “@Oprah & favorite daughter watching #Oscars & seeing @totalbeautyeditors snafu! We all love @whoopigoldberg but we don’t all look alike Jeeeze!”
Total Beauty apologized for the error and vowed to donate $10,000 to the charities of Winfrey and Goldberg’s choices.
“They don’t need to do that,” said Goldberg. “It happens. People make mistakes all the time — we’ve done it on the show. Thank you for that, and come on, it was an honest mistake. We both look good, Oprah and I.”