Ellen DeGeneres built a brand on kindness – then her staff described a workplace so toxic it ended her career.
Now Whoopi Goldberg just handed her critics the same weapon.
What she admitted on live television Thursday morning is something her lawyers should have stopped her from saying.
Whoopi Goldberg Admits Yelling at Staff While Defending Katie Porter on The View
California Democrat gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter has been bleeding support for months over viral videos showing her screaming at a staffer – telling the employee to "get out of my f—ing shot" during a Zoom interview.
The incident broke in October 2025 and Porter has never fully recovered in the polls.
The View panel took up the controversy after Porter used a CNN debate to turn the attacks back on her male opponents.
Whoopi Goldberg responded by making it personal.
"Maybe she does yell at people," Goldberg told the audience. "I yell at people. You yell at people. You yell at people. And sometimes it's not nice."
Joy Behar offered that she only yells at her husband.
https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/2052416342788079718
Alyssa Farah Griffin Calls Out Whoopi Goldberg Over How She Treats Staff
Alyssa Farah Griffin pushed back immediately, telling the panel that how someone treats the people who work beneath them reveals who they actually are.
"I think how somebody treats staff under them says so much about their character," Griffin said. "We saw the video. She berated a staffer in a way I've, never in any job in politics, been talked to."
Griffin then told Goldberg she had never witnessed her treat anyone that way.
Goldberg's response did not reassure anyone.
"The reason you don't see it is because I'm very careful when I yell at people," she said.
She added that she used to "get really angry with people" who crossed her or were "messing" with her – and acknowledged that her outbursts happen somewhere the cameras cannot find them.
Sunny Hostin, meanwhile, blamed the entire situation on Donald Trump.
"It trickles down from the top," Hostin told the panel, crediting Trump's behavior for Porter throwing scalding mashed potatoes at her ex-husband.
Goldberg waved that off, suggesting Porter simply had "bad taste in men."
The Ellen DeGeneres Toxic Workplace Scandal That Destroyed Her Career
Ellen DeGeneres spent nearly two decades telling audiences to "be kind" while her staff described a workplace built on fear, racism, and intimidation.
When the reports broke in 2020, DeGeneres lost advertisers, celebrity bookings, and ratings in the same quarter.
Her producers were fired.
She ended the show after 19 seasons, with DeGeneres later saying the controversy cost her opportunities she never got back.
DeGeneres did not deny the behavior when it surfaced – she admitted she had not been paying attention, that she relied on others to manage the environment her name was on.
Goldberg's admission is more direct than that.
She is not claiming ignorance about her temper – she is claiming she is "very careful" about where it surfaces, which is a worse answer.
Ignorance is a mistake. Concealment is a choice.
Goldberg ended the segment by quipping, "Anyway, we live in New York, so what do we care?"
ABC is currently negotiating the future of The View heading into Season 29, with industry sources reporting Goldberg's seat is no longer guaranteed.
Porter ran an ad this week joking about her own outburst, ending with her smiling at supporters and asking them to "please get out of my shot."
Critics called it the worst political ad of the cycle.
Goldberg went on national television and made the same argument Porter made in that ad – that screaming at people who work for you is normal, private, and no one's business.
Ellen DeGeneres tried that argument. Her show ran 19 seasons. It ended anyway.
Sources:
- "Whoopi Defends Katie Porter Berating Her Staff, 'I Yell at People!'" Mediaite, May 7, 2026.
- Nicholas Fondacaro, "Whoopi Defends Katie Porter Berating Her Staff, 'I Yell at People!'" NewsBusters, May 7, 2026.
- "Katie Porter's Attempt to Brush Off Viral Outburst Backfires," Fox News, May 6, 2026.
- Jeanne Kuang, "Katie Porter Is Struggling in California Governor's Race," CalMatters, May 7, 2026.
- Krystie Lee Yandoli, "Ellen DeGeneres Has Decided to End Her Daytime Talk Show," BuzzFeed News, May 12, 2021.
