Whoopi Goldberg unleashed some fury during Wednesday’s episode of “The View,” scolding the Austin American-Statesman for publishing edited versions of video from inside Robb Elementary School during the horrific shooting that happened there in May.
On Tuesday, the Austin newspaper published portions of surveillance video showing the hallway of the school in Uvalde as police entered. Throughout the footage, police are seen waiting for orders, and not entering the classroom, despite the sounds of continued gunfire. Noted in the video is the fact that the sound of the children screaming inside the school was edited out.
The videos were graphic and horrific on many levels, and Whoopi was furious that the paper chose to release them at all.
“I find it indefensible. I’m sorry. You forgot that attached to all those sounds are people’s children,” she said. “And you didn’t have to do this. They were going to see this video on Sunday. You did not have to release this and leak it. I think it’s appalling, and you should be ashamed of yourselves for doing that.”
Goldberg added that the decision was “thoughtless” in regards to the parents of the children who were killed, because now they are forced to publicly re-live the moment.
“Every time you turn around, you gotta see it. And I don’t know if you guys over at that newspaper have kids, but shame on you,” she scolded.
At that, Whoopi took a moment to figuratively spit on the paper by literally spitting at the ground, before reiterating: “Shame on you.”
Her cohosts weren’t quite so angry, with Sunny Hostin and guest host Alyssa Farah Griffin arguing that the videos are instrumental in dismantling the narrative from police that they were helpless. Hostin noted that the video is definitive proof that the police were cowards.
The Austin American-Statesman has itself released an op-ed defending their choice to release the videotape, saying, “Our decision to publish, along with our news partner, KVUE, comes after long and thoughtful discussions.”
The column continued: “Our goal is to continue to bring to light what happened at Robb Elementary, which the families and friends of the Uvalde victims have long been asking for…. We have to bear witness to history, and transparency and unrelenting reporting is a way to bring change.”
