Whoopi Goldberg Vigorously Defends Elisabeth Hasselbeck

The hosts of The View had a discussion over the recent furor surrounding a question that Fox & Friends and former View host Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked regarding Sandra Bland when she asked a former NYPD officer, "I’m sure, someone has, in the history of this land, used a cigarette against a police officer, maybe chucked it at him, pushed it at him. If he indeed felt that as though that could be a threat, was that the wise thing to do on his part?" People have said that Hasselbeck was justifying Bland's death, or that she was suggesting a lit cigarette could be a deadly weapon, or even that she's racist. Whoopi Goldberg defended Elisabeth Hasselbeck, "I've been her friend, we’ve been friends for about seven, eight years and she has not asked me to pick any cotton. She has not, I'm saying that because, and I say this all the time, people love to throw that phrase around, 'You're a racist. You're this. You're that.' It is not racist to ask a question." Raven-Symone and Rosie Perez agreed with Goldberg that the question was a fair one to ask. But newcomer Michelle Collins thought it could have been phrased in a different way or that maybe Hasselbeck should have been more sensitive. That got Whoopi irate, rebutting, "You have to ask the question. This is, if we stop asking questions, how would we ever know the truth? How would we know what happens?" Whoopi ended the segment with a vigorous defense of her friend Elisabeth, "You recognize the real racists. You know them when you see them and when you hear them. You know...this woman sat here for 12 years and had disagreements. That does not make her a freaking racist."