Whoopi Goldberg Bashes Younger Generation’s Work Ethic

Whoopi
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 17: Whoopi Goldberg attends FGI Night of Stars 39th Annual Gala at The Plaza on October 17, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Whoopi Goldberg, 16-year co-host of The View, ruffled the feathers of millennials after going on a rant about their work ethic.

On Wed (Nov 7), Goldberg, 67, compared younger generations who “only want to work four hours,” to people like her, who she said “busted our behind” to get to where they are today. 

The conversation started when co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, 34, talked about the millennial generation being “the generation of the housing crisis, financial crisis and 9/11,” with many people struggling to buy homes or even choosing not to have children for financial reasons.

“We’ve been in war my entire generation,” Griffin continued, adding, “49 percent of people are living with their parents. Our American dream is different.”

But Goldberg, a baby boomer, claimed that “every generation comes and wants to do better than their parents did,” before stating, “I’m sorry, if you only want to work four hours, it’s going to be harder for you to get a house.” 

“I feel for everybody that feels this, but, I’m sorry, we busted our behinds,” the Sister Act star added. “We had to bust our behinds, because we didn’t have the option of going back. We had all kinds of stuff.” 

Social Reactions

One user wrote, “I like Whoopi for the most part, but I don’t need to be lectured about work ethic by someone who makes $8 million a year for an hour of work 5 days a week.”

“Girl at Whoopi…nobody want to work 4 hrs lol. It’s many who are working full time & not even bringing in 3k a month. The problem is the wages aren’t livable, another chimed in on the topic.

On the next day’s episode, Goldberg acknowledged that millennials were mad at her for previous comments calling them out for a lack of work ethic. The co-hosts were discussing Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner’s divorce and some argued that Turner, who married Jonas at 23-years-old, was too young to get married. 

“Women, when we were kids, there was a standard women had to follow. You were a parent. You became a parent and you worked. I never knew women who didn’t work. I never knew women who did not work,” Goldberg said, “That’s why I have an interesting time when we talk about millennials. They’re very pissed at me right now, the young people.”