Whoopi Goldberg has slammed Bill Maher for calling Covid-19 measures “bananas” saying “that’s not really funny to people who have lost their kids” due to the pandemic.
The View host hit out at the comedian on Monday’s episode of the daytime talk show following comments he made on his show Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night.
In a monologue, Mr Maher mocked efforts in place to protect people from the virus, such as face masks and booster shots, and said people are living in a “paranoid world”.
“I don’t want to live in your paranoid world anymore – your masked, paranoid world,” he said.
“You go out - it’s silly now. You know you have to have your mask, you have to have a card, you have to have a booster. They scan your head like you’re a cashier and I’m a bunch of bananas.”
Mr Maher added to laughter from the audience: “I’m not bananas – you are.”
Ms Goldberg failed to see the funny side and branded the comedian “flippant”.
“How dare you be so flippant, man,” she said.
The actor and TV personality told Mr Maher that nobody “wants to go through this” but that people are following precautions “to protect our families”.
“That’s not really funny to people who have lost their kids … or people who have lost family members or dear friends to this,” she said.
“Listen, nobody on the planet really wants to go through this.
“This is not something we’re doing because it’s sexually gratifying. This is what we’re doing to protect our families.”
She continued: “And you don’t have to do it, but stay away from everybody because if you’re the one who’s not paying attention and you’re coughing and sneezing then stay out of the public, man.
“Nobody wants this. I don’t want it.”
Ms Goldberg also added that children under the age of five are not yet able to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
“And I think he’s forgetting that there are people who are still at risk who cannot get vaccinated,” she said.
“Little kids who are under the age of five or people with health conditions.”
She added, “you’re playing Russian roulette with their lives”.
Mr Maher has sparked controversy in the past over his public criticism of pandemic-related restrictions.
In an interview with Deadline, published on Friday, the comedian hit out at blindly following the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the medical community.
“Don’t sit there in your white coat and tell me ‘Just do what we say,’” he said.
He said that he was “never scared” of the virus itself and was “always scared of the reaction to it”.
“And as this has played out that only proved to be more true for me,” he said.
In October, he told viewers of his that the pandemic is “over” and they should “resume living”.
"Just resume living. I know some people seem to not want to give up on the wonderful pandemic, but you know what? It’s over,” he said.
Back in June 2020 - just months into the pandemic - he told millennials to “live [their] pre-corona life” as they are “the least likely to die from it”.
