Whoopi Goldberg has issued an apology after using an offensive term on a recent episode of The View.
On Wednesday, the 67-year-old was discussing former President of the United States, Donald Trump's loss to Joe Biden in 2020 when she said: "...People who still believe that he got, you know, gypped somehow in the election."
After the airing of the episode, the talk show host took to Twitter to issue a formal video apology for using the term "gypped", stating that she wasn't aware that the term was now considered offensive.
"You know, when you’re a certain age, you use words that you know from when you’re a kid or you remember saying, and that’s what I did today, and I shouldn’t have," Goldberg said in the clip. "I should have thought about it a little longer before I said it, but I didn’t, and I should have said 'cheated,' and I used another word, and I’m really, really sorry."
Watch the apology video below:While it seems as though some other social media users also weren't aware of the offensive meaning of the word, according to multiple sources including the National Public Radio (NPR), the word is, in fact, incredibly hurtful to the Romani people.
It derives from the term "gypsy", which has been typically associated with the group, however, the word "gypped" has more negative connotations as it means "defrauded, swindled, cheated," as per the official definition by Merriam-Webster.
The dictionary publisher has also branded the word as "informal" and "offensive."
Throughout history, we've also seen the word used in action - not to describe Romani people - but to evoke a sense of scandal around the idea of being frauded.
Take F. Scott Fitzgerald's iconic piece, The Great Gatsby; the word is used in this sentence: "We had over twelve hundred dollars when we started, but we got gyped out of it all in two days."
A more recent example includes a book in a New York Times bestselling series by Carol Higgins Clark titled Gypped: A Regan Reilly Mystery. As stated by the NPR, the book had absolutely nothing to do with the Roma people, but instead was centered around "a murder mystery full of financial scams and intrigue set in sunny California."
In another article by The Inclusion Solution, who emphasize their aim to change the conversation around "common expressions that may not be prejudiced on the surface" but are offensive nonetheless, a more historical context is given.
"For ages, 'Gypsies' were, and still are, stereotyped as sneaky thieves. They have been persecuted, enslaved centuries ago, murdered in the Holocaust, and denied civil rights today. Consequently, the common perception of the modern Roma individual is that of a roaming beggar."
"Consequently, it’s worth thinking twice before saying you’ve been 'gypped,' given the word’s racist underpinnings," they said.
This isn't the first time Goldberg has been forced to apologize for making offensive remarks.
During an episode of The View on January 31, Goldberg said the Holocaust "is white people doing it to white people."
"If you're going to do this, let's be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn't about race," Goldberg added. "No. It's not about race! It's about man's inhumanity to man. That's what it's about."
That same night, the Sister Act star was forced to apologize for her comments after being slammed for her insensitivity.
"I'm sorry for the hurt I have caused," Goldberg said in a statement on January 31. "As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, 'The Holocaust was about the Nazi's systematic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race.' I stand corrected."
She was also suspended from her position on the talk show but was later reinstated.
