'View' Co-Hosts Blame Woman Persecuted by Sudan
By Justin McCarthy | November 30, 2007 - 18:14 ET
All the co-hosts of "The View," a show intended to advance women’s voices, do not get offended by women’s persecution in the Islamic world. On the November 30 edition, in discussing the British woman charged for naming a class teddy bear Muhammad, the co-hosts did not direct any anger at the Sudanese government, but rather blamed the woman for not adapting to their culture.
Co-host Sherri Shepherd opined "you would think that with her being in Sudan, she would know the rules and customs."Whoopi Goldberg said Europeans and Americans are "not as anxious to learn the customs before we go places." And of course that’s why we’re called "ugly Americans."
The show was recorded before news of the woman’s 15 day sentence. The entire transcript is below.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Now in the Sudan, there’s a British teacher who is possibly going to be stoned or lashed.
JOY BEHAR: A woman.
GOLDBERG: A woman, yeah. Because, in her class they had some teddy bears and she, one of the kids wanted to name his kid- his teddy bear Muhammad and she said "fine." Apparently, other children complained to their parents, which is how it ended up in the hands of the religious leaders, and the religious leaders are very very upset. Now, do you think that they’re-
GLORIA ESTEFAN: They arrested her.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, they arrested her. It is a huge thing.
BEHAR: There are a lot of Muhammads, though, in that part of the world.
GOLDBERG: Yes, but they’re people, and not animals.
BEHAR: Right, but this isn’t even an animal. This is a stuffed toy.
GOLDBERG: Yes, it’s a stuffed toy.
SHERRI SHEPHERD: I think it’s like it’s sacrilegious to name a stuffed toy Muhammad. But you know, you would think that with her being in Sudan, she would know the rules and customs. Because I know I performed stand up in Turkey, and they gave me a big thick packet on the customs, and what you could and could not do, and how you would offend people. So I’m surprised that she didn’t know it might be offensive.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, because you’d think if you’re going overseas, I mean, we had this discussion yesterday about people coming to America and learning the customs and knowing what is cool, and what isn’t cool. But I find that maybe we are not- and I say we just as European and American, we’re not as anxious to learn the customs before we go places. It’s just one of the reasons we’re called the ugly Americans.
—Justin McCarthy is a news analyst at Media Research Center.
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