Whoopi Goldberg is slamming trolls criticizing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon over their casting choices. Some fans on social media have called out the series on Prime Video and HBO for becoming “woke” and showing people of color in the fantasy worlds originally created by J. R. R. Tolkien and George R. R. Martin.
On the premiere episode of The View Season 26, Goldberg put the racist trolls on blast at the “Hot Topics” table.
“I want to start by saying these are not real. OK?” Goldberg started. “The new Lord of the Rings series, The Rings of Power and Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon are both massive hits, but they don’t exist in the real world. OK? There are no dragons, there are no hobbits you know, you know that.”
Goldberg added, “Are you telling me Black people can’t be fake people too? I don’t know if there’s a hobbit club, I don’t know if they’re going to protest. But people, what is wrong with y’all?”
Sunny Hostin chimed in saying that the trolls’ “argument is that it betrays the source material.” She also added that she has been loving seeing Steve Toussaint on House of the Dragon.
“What I think is fascinating is, 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,” Hostin added.
Goldberg reminded the trolls that they were going to “lose their minds” when they see the new The Little Mermaid which will be portrayed by Halle Bailey.
“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,” Goldberg said. “We would like to see as many people represented in fantasy. So all of y’all who have problems because there are Black hobbits, get a job! Go find yourself because you are focused on the wrong stuff.”
Watch Whoopi Goldberg’s take on the racist backlash below.