Whoopi Goldberg of The View is ripping a decision to re-edit classic books in the hopes that audiences are not offended. Goldberg, on Monday, suggested disclaimers be put on these books instead of editing them. She said that “this is how kids learn.”
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“Look, y’all got to stop this,” Whoopi Goldberg said. “Just put a disclaimer that says, listen, this (book) was written at this time, or put out the original and what y’all have done. Because kids should have the right to read how people thought so that they know how to make the change.”
Recently, book publisher Puffin altered books by Roald Dahl, who famously wrote Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to remove language they deemed offensive.
Whoopi Goldberg of ‘The View’ Says That Mark Twain’s Work Got Edited
“You know, they tried to do this with Mark Twain as well because they were so concerned the n-word was in the book. Well, that’s how they did it. That’s how it was. We don’t want people doing it today and you don’t see it as much. That’s how people learn.” Whoopi Goldberg continued, Fox News reports.
Co-host Sara Haines agreed, saying that “art more than anything” needs to be left alone. That’s especially true when it comes to “stories being told,” Haines said. “This will show people when they feel really uncomfortable reading a certain word,” she said. “That impact can be greater than anything else. Leave it alone.”
Meanwhile, co-host Ana Navarro said they were “overdoing it” by removing gender-specific words from the Oompa Loompa characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Ana Navarro Is Concerned That States Are ‘Editing Out Black History Studies’
Navarro reiterated her concern that states were “editing out Black history studies from AP courses.” “We went to see ‘Piano Lesson,’ the play by August Wilson.” Navarro says that the n-word is “used there like every other sentence.” “And it should make us feel uncomfortable. But it is what it is, and it was what it was and we should not erase history,” she added.
Co-host Sunny Hostin disagreed with her fellow co-hosts. She referenced the recent edits made to the James Bond book series. “When you think about a book like James Bond, and I’m a huge James Bond fan, in his Live and Let Die book, in that novel, he visits Harlem and uses the n-word to describe almost every Black person he sees there. And in my view, the sensitivity of the edits now say ‘black man,’ ‘black woman,’ ‘black person.’ I appreciate that,” she said.
