The hosts of “The View” have absolutely no time for the racist criticisms of new fantasy shows like HBO’s “House of the Dragon” and Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” So, on Tuesday’s season premiere of “The View,” the ladies went off on those critics, mocking their outrage.
For those disgruntled fans, the primary argument against the diverse casting of “The Rings of Power” is that J.R.R. Tolkien never intended to populate Middle-earth with people/creatures of color, despite Tolkien explicitly describing the Harfoots as having “browner” skin in contrast to their descendants the hobbits. In fact, in tandem with the premiere of “The Rings of Power” on Amazon, the streamer suspended user reviews for the first 72 hours to prevent those angry about the racially diverse cast from “review bombing” the series.
“Are you telling me Black people can’t be fake people too? Is that what you’re telling me?” Whoopi Goldberg said incredulously on Tuesday. “I don’t know if there’s like a hobbit club, I don’t know if there are gonna be protests, but people! What is wrong with y’all?”
The rest of “The View” hosts largely agreed, with newcomer Alyssa Farah Griffin mocking those that actually take the time to write those negative reviews, solely based on being upset at diverse casting. Meanwhile, host Sunny Hostin opted to argue the silliness of the argument by noting the other physical traits of the characters, specifically referring to HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel.
“What I think is fascinating is like, dragons are OK, fire-breathing dragons, and people with white hair that are born like that when they’re little, and violet eyes, but the Black people in it is just a bridge too far for these folks,” Hostin mocked.
Eventually, the discussion came back around to Whoopi Goldberg, who had a prediction about Disney’s upcoming live-action version of “The Little Mermaid” — and some more mockery for the crowd who will be upset by it.
“Y’all are gonna lose your minds when you see the new Ariel. ‘Cause you know — and I don’t want to upset any mermaids who are watching the show, you know, because I know there are many communities of mermaids of various colors!” Whoopi said. “And when I say ‘of various colors,’ I’m not playing. There are violet mermaids, there are pink mermaids, there are black mermaids, there are Latina mermaids, there are mermaids of every ilk. And you know why there can be? Because it’s the world that we would like to see better.”
Before the segment ended, Whoopi got even more blunt.
“All of y’all who have problems because there are Black hobbits? Get a job!” she said. “Get a job! Go find yourself, because you are focused on the wrong stuff.”
