Talk:Whoopi Goldberg

favorite charities/foundations

does anyone know what favorite charities/foundations she gives to regularly? in alaska wondering. 216.67.30.103 05:44, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Too Favorable

What? Nothing of her getting drunk and saying crude remarks about the president? We wouldn't want to show her weaknesses, now would we?

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 76.6.85.172 (talk) 02:27, 8 May 2007 (UTC).

Birthplace

What, exactly, is "the Jewish part of New York"? A Jewish neighborhood, maybe? Which one? WilliamBarrett 04:24, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Heroin

Is she a heroin addict? The list of heroin addicts indicates such, but there is no mention in this article.

If the article doesn't metion it, and neither does ;ist of known opiate addicts, then I doubt it. However, BBC and here state that she was. Iolakana•T 21:53, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Gay Icon Project

In my effort to merge the now-deleted list from the article Gay icon to the Gay icons category, I have added this page to the category. I engaged in this effort as a "human script", adding everyone from the list to the category, bypassing the fact-checking stage. That is what I am relying on you to do. Please check the article Gay icon and make a judgment as to whether this person or group fits the category. By distributing this task from the regular editors of one article to the regular editors of several articles, I believe that the task of fact-checking this information can be expedited. Thank you very much. Philwelch 20:45, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

'have gas'

Well, the part about why she uses that very stage name reads fairly funny, but I assume 'have gas' is not appropriate for Wikipedia? I'm no English native speaker, but I really do think it is a bit too vulgar. What do you guys think? -andy 80.129.98.149 19:11, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

If it's the reason she gives, it's fine for the article. Truth, or at least a citable claim, trumps concerns about vulgarity. --Zippy 11:07, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

eyebrows, what's the story?

I've never seen a photo of Goldberg where she has eyebrows. What's the story -- does she have some medical condition, or is this a really extreme case of face waxing? --Zippy 00:46, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

I believe the latter, in fact she sometimes does have eyebrows, sometimes not. Maybe it's how she likes it? I know several women who shave their eyebrows off. It's an ongoing debate that I'm sure she finds amusing, in the end who cares? Zerbey 05:28, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

I tried to find a photo of her with eyebrows and failed. --Zippy 11:05, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

She says they're her trademark. Michael 04:10, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

I finally found a photo of Goldberg with eyebrows. She had them in the 1985 movie The Color Purple. --Zippy 18:44, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Unless that was just makeup for the movie. Macduff 23:23, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm wondering why her lack of eyebrows is in the Media Appearances section. Itsmeiam 06:52, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Multiracial? Erm...no

Though Whoopi claims to be of mixed heritage in her autobiography (black, white, Chinese, Jewish, Indian, alien princess...), a DNA test shown on African American Lives, last February (2006) revealed that Whoopi is, in actuality, over 90% African decent.

http://newyorkmetro.com/arts/tv/reviews/15623/ http://racerelations.about.com/od/ahistoricalviewofrace/a/dnaandrace.htm

92% from the New York Metro link (though what does it mean to be X% European, Y% African?). In any event, taking the test as an accurate measure of the percentages of different ethnic groups, 1) she's at least 8% something other than African, and 2) one's Jewish ancestry is not necessarily identifiable in DNA (similarly, one's ancestors believing in Christ, Mohammed, or no deity at all, would not necessarily show or be measureable). --Zippy 05:28, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

92% of one dominant race does NOT make a person mixed. Not even a little bit. If that were the case, then MOST American blacks (especially with southern heritage) would be classified as mixed.

In her autobio - which is sitting on my desk - Whoopi made a BIG DEAL about her so-called mixed heritage, which is all but completely debunked. How is someone 2% Chinese again? .5% Jewish? Sorry, Whoopi - I know you wanted to have something in common with all your white lovers, but race ain't it. (And I LOVE Whoopi.) Geez, it's time for us black folk to put that "Great-granny was a Cherokee princess" sh*t to rest. Rattlerbrat 14:13, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Who cares?? She is a highly multitalented, funny woman whose work speaks for itself. By they way, what is the cut-off point for declaring who is "mixed" or not?? Who comes up with these "percentages?"" Since if two randomly-selected individuals from different "racial" groups were to be tested for genetic similarities, they would more likely have more genes in common with the person from the OTHER "race," then these "percentages" become even more ridiculous. I do agree about with the point that blacks as a group need to stop taking it as badge of extra pride for having non-African ancestry. Most blacks have multiracial heritage (which makes them technically mixed), and that's neither good nor bad, just a fact (but biologically, its best to be a mutt than a purebreed!) 11 March 2006 Kemet.

Oh, we do NOT. Is this what they teach in public schools? I'm not too sure what the cut-off is for multiracial, but NINETY-TWO PERCENT of one race is an overwhelming majority in one's blood line. This is why all blacks here at Wikipedia are NOT listed as multiracial heritage. Thanks for the laugh, though. Jennifer 04:17, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

It can be true depending on how you define multiracial. American blacks on average have only about 20% white ancestry (far from "mulatto"). And people like Kemet love using that fact to prove some sort of point against mixed-race identity. - 72.81.251.133 05:04, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

best to be a mutt than a purebreed?...in animals, like dogs, purebreds tend to be inbred. so no, humans of mixed ethnicities are not hardier than "purebreeds." also, it is quite possible that whoopi goldberg is recently descended from Chinese or Jewish ancestors without it showing up in her genes. example: let's say, somehow, a woman is absolutely 50% chinese and 50% african, genetically speaking. she marries a man who is somehow 100% genetically african. their kids are not necessarily 25% chinese by genes...when half of the woman's genes are selected for the zygotes, it's not like her body somehow "knows" it must select precisely half of the chinese genes and half of the african genes. so she very well might have made a big deal about it because her Chinese and Jewish ancestors played a large role in her life, she's not necessarily exagerrating it just because the tests say she's 92% african, genetically. Theconroy 07:18, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

• um, we did these types of tests in an undergraduate biochem lab once, you realize they're not tests to see what race you are, they just type them against the most common allelic profiles, in most cases they use ethnic groups as a baseline/control, but it's hardly a test of ethnicity, just genetics--152.163.100.8 00:39, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Must be an American thing this, the desparate need to define OTHER PEOPLE's ethnicity. She is of mixed descent to some degree, and if she views herself in that light, that her right. It's her identity and no-one else has the right to say that's wrong. --Indisciplined 22:16, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Kemet: It's pretty obvious that some people are more "multiracial" than others. Just because there's a gray area doesn't mean that everyone or nobody is. And what makes you think that she thinks she's "better" for having non-black ancestry? For the record, I agree that 92% is far above the cut-off, and it would be ridiculous, IMO, for Whoopi to go around saying that she's mixed race, especially given her physical appearance. Still, I agree with Indisciplined - she should be able to identify herself as whatever she wants. Just leave her alone. (By the way, it does seem to be an American problem, but mostly with black Americans themselves. As you can tell, many blacks here take issue with blacks who mention that they are X% of any other race. Even if Whoopi were 50% non-black, people like Rattlerbrat and Kemet would still probably complain.) - 72.81.251.133 04:43, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Why She Picked Goldberg...

Whoopi used to say that she picked the name "Goldberg" so she could break into the supposedly Jewish entertainment network...Jewish comedy club owners would hire her based on her name, et cetera.

I get the impression that, for obvious reasons, she no longer emphasizes this point, now. Does anyone have documentation for it, so it could be included in the article? I am not willing to add it without citation. --209.33.24.118 22:19, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

I saw her say this on TV in the late eighties...anyone know a specific reference? --Kaz 18:57, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

In the article, please mention how / why she changed(?) her name. Jidanni (talk) 03:29, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Age

[1] and [2] says she's born 1955.

This page has it at 1950 http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gol0bio-1 ka1iban 01:31, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Most reliable sources say 1949.

More Matter

I am not an expert on Whoopi, but can someone add more content to the official page. There is very little text about her accomplishments--only a large review. Clearly she should be more than just catalogued. Thanks.

Halle Berry?

Didn't Halle Berry win an Oscar for Monster's Ball? If so, then the Academy Award language needs to be updated.

atheist?

NNDB says she is an atheist.[3] Is that alone a reliable source? — coelacan talk — 00:35, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Although it's not a reliable source, [4] says so as well. I wouldn't trust that source, though, since it says Liam Gallagher's an atheist and I'm pretty sure he's Roman Catholic. I can't find anything else on her being an atheist, though, so I'd take that with a grain of salt. 1ne 00:38, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Not so sure about Liam. He's got some interesting quotes. — coelacan talk — 04:25, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Maxim (the actual numbers)

Truth be told, there were eleven names on the list of worst comedians, since the Gallagher brothers were listed together. Of the eleven, 8 were white, 2 were black, and one was asian; hardly racist. Of the eleven, 6 were female, and 5 were male. Sexist? Perhaps, but not overwhelmingly so, especially for a men's magazine. The Reel World 18:56, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't matter anyway. This trivia piece does not adhere to WP:LIVING so I'm taking it out. It's malicious POV, so in order to stay it would have to be super-relevant, and it's just not. It's gone. — coelacan talk — 19:09, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Someone complained that I had not waited for consensus before removing this. We don't wait for consensus when it is a damaging statement on a living person. Read WP:LIVING. This is damaging, so it must be cited and highly relevant. Even if it were cited, it's not relevant. What one readers' poll of one magazine decided about Whoopi is not a notable contribution to Wikipedia. — coelacan talk — 23:00, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Sorry to step in to the middle of a discussion here, but my reading of WP:LIVING is that the Maxim cite is acceptable. With respect to POV, it would be a POV violation for the wikipedia article to state "Whoopi Goldberg is the worst comedian ever", but it it acceptable to say "A Maxim poll rated Whoopi Goldberg as the worst comedian ever." The former is an opinion (and thus has a point of view, violating POV), the latter is a fact and expresses no viewpoint (especially in the context of the rest of the article, which does not focus on this poll and instead cites many, many positive awards, polls, and work). --Zippy 18:31, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

I see no evidence on the Maxim site that the article is a "reader poll". It's just a piece trashing comedians. --George100 11:48, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

I just read the Maxim article on-line, and I agree. Not a poll, not particularly interesting. --Zippy 21:10, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Maxim Magazine Experts On Comedy?

Since when did the people on Maxim magazine and its readers become a viable source on comedy commentary?

Its like Hustler or Playboy or Sports Illustrated writers and readers being experts on comedy.

Academy Award and Oscar winner?

That's one heck of an accomplishment considering it's the same thing.  ;-) I deleted Oscar. --Atomicskier 20:07, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

NPOV tag

I'm realizing that many of the more blatantly POV statements in this overly celebratory article have already been tagged by Template:Fact markers. Deleting a lot of the unsourced/POV material would improve the article.

"After receiving kudos from Spielberg, Walker, and music consultant Quincy Jones, Goldberg became an overnight Hollywood sensation. The Color Purple was released in the winter of 1985 and was an instant critical and commercial success. It was later nominated for 11 Academy Awards including a nomination for Goldberg as Best Leading Actress. Although the movie came away with no awards, still one of the biggest upsets in history, Whoopi's performance was highly regarded."

The term non-specific terms "slew" or "host" of awards appear more than once. The only tone-netural statements in the article appear to be endless catalogues of the box office results and award status of every project she's ever worked--the overall point of the article seems to be "success after success after success," almost like a résumé or advertisement. I don't think a rambling list of accomplishments interspersed with awkward expressions of gushing praise make for useful encyclopedia article. Many of the accomplishments listed--for example, the number of award nominations given to movies she merely appeared in--have very little to do with Whoopi herself.

I could be wrong in interpreting the article this way. Before I start deleting what seems to me rather silly content, I want to get some more opinions.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back 13:27, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I have no objection to some removal of PR puffery (I like that phrase, where'd you pick it up?) but I have one major request: please try to do it in small increments so it's easy to see what you've changed. If at all possible, avoid those newline and whitespace changes that cause large chunks of text to appear red in diffs even though nothing actually changed (if you don't know what I mean, let me know and I'll go find some example diffs). Minor requests: in deleting content, try to limit deletion of facts to those that are repeated multiple times (remember that per WP:LEAD, the intro section has to summarize the rest of the article, so anthing in the lead should be repeated later at least once. You removed content here that I replaced here; that's an example of what I mean. One other editor put some fine-toothed work into this article recently, Slater79, who I will invite to oversee as well. Beyond that, I've got no other initial concerns, and I see some WP:PEACOCKery that I'm going to start taking out, myself. — coelacan talk — 01:10, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I jumped in and removed some of the obviously POV statements, and tagged many with " " that could be neutral, but need supporting cites (ex: "during this period, Goldberg became a drug addict.") --Zippy 00:36, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

How high?

I've heard Whoopi made third most movies in '90s. How many films was it in all, & how much did they gross? (FYI, she trailed Samuel L. Jackson {36 & US$1.7 billion} & Harvey Keitel {30 & US$709 million}). Trekphiler 08:25, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

what is her favorite charities?

wondering in alaska —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.67.30.103 (talk) 05:45, 12 March 2007 (UTC).

Death

Currently 18/03/07 is says she died, is that true?

I don't think so. Her death is no longer on her biography. Someone must have deleted it. CureHeart 00:28, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Jewish??

It say in the references at the bottom of the article that she is Jewish? Is this true? I mean her real name isn't Goldberg and if this is the only reason to say that she's Jewish surely it's incorrect?? Can someone clear this mystery up?Yakface 00:05, 31 March 2007 (UTC) Is she Silverstein or Johnson by birth?

According to Imdb her real name is Johnson by birth. I have much doubts about the 'raised by a rabbi' story Paul210 11:22, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Dear Paul,

I wonder who wrote all that stuff in the Wiki bio about Whoopi's Jewish background? I'm puzzled about it. I remember her being interviewed on TV (with Barbara Walters I think) & said her real name was Caryn Johnson & that she was raised a Roman Catholic. All that Jewish stuff sounds suspicious. If she was really Jewish, I think Barbara Walters would have mentioned it.

Sincerely,

Sherry

Ben Hur?

This page's filmography currently claims that Whoopi Goldberg appeared in Ben Hur. Unless she appeared as a four-year old extra, which I somehow doubt, this claim would appear to be somewhat dubious. MarkB79 23:46, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Religion info

I've removed this (long uncited) info about her religious background, if anyone can source it to a good source please restore: "Although her mother was a Protestant preacher, Goldberg says that her family is of mixed religious heritage — including Buddhist and Jewish traditions, hailing from a "West Indian" immigrant community. Although she has a religious family heritage, she has said she does not really consider herself in any religious denomination. She chose the surname "Goldberg" after her mother pointed out that her initial name pick was not Jewish enough to make her rich." All Hallow's Wraith 09:59, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Kingdom Hearts

Im not positive, but i believe her voice is featured in the video game kingdom hearts 2 (the hyena from lion king). There really isnt a specific place to add it in the article, but i thought id mention it here. Evaunit666 03:24, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Billy Connolly

According to the man himself, Billy Connolly thanks Goldberg for being the reason he became popular in the US. Apparently she got him a gig with an influential audience at some comedy show. I saw it on one of his biographical DVDs. Anyone else know about this? Kansaikiwi (talk) 23:26, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the info Zomputer (talk) 16:27, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Godmother of a cruise ship?

"Goldberg is the godmother of the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship Serenade of the Seas, and is currently a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador."

I have no idea if this is true. But I have never heard of being "godmother of a cruise ship". So, if it is true, it should be explained. Otherwise, it should be removed. -69.87.201.48 (talk) 23:23, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Radio show cancelled in March 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Up_With_Whoopi References to Whoopi as "radio DJ" should now be deleted (at least in the present tense) as the radio show was cancelled. 72.92.4.157 (talk) 16:50, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

How many films?

I don't believe she "starred in over 150 films", at least not according to imdb. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.174.241.225 (talk) 20:54, 21 July 2008 (UTC)