Whoopi Goldberg defends 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles amid racism row

‘Don’t make me come for you!’ Whoopi Goldberg defends Blazing Saddles amid racism row and says 1974 Mel Brooks comedy ‘hits everybody and makes you think’

  • Goldberg, 67, defended 1974 Mel Brooks comedy on The View Wednesday 
  • She advised viewers to decide for themselves and watch the film 
  • Conversation stemmed from Mindy Kaling saying The Office wouldn’t be accepted by modern audiences 
  • Blazing Saddles (co-written by black comedian Richard Pryor) sends up racism with its black sheriff protagonist 

Whoopi Goldberg has defended the 1974 Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles amid an online backlash branding the western satire racist.

Appearing on The View on Wednesday, Goldberg, 67, declared: ‘Leave my Blazing Saddles alone – don’t make me come for you!’ in a chat shortly after  Mindy Kaling said in a Good Morning America appearance that The Office wouldn’t be accepted by modern audiences.

The EGOT winner said the film – which sends up racism with its black sheriff protagonist – ‘deals with racism by coming at it right, straight, out front, making you think and laugh about it – because, listen, it’s not just racism, it’s all the isms, he hits all the isms.’

Hitting back: Whoopi Goldberg has defended the 1974 Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles amid an online backlash branding the western satire racist 

She added, ‘Blazing Saddles, because it’s a great comedy, would still go over today – there are a lot of comedies that are not good, okay? 

‘We’re just going to say that – that’s not one of them. Blazing Saddles is one of the greatest because it hits everybody.’

Goldberg advised viewers to decide for themselves and watch the movie, which features the late stars Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little, Slim Pickens, Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman. 

The storyline of the film centers around a corrupt politician who appoints a Black sheriff to preside over a village in 1874.

‘If you’ve never seen Blazing Saddles, you should do yourself a favor, get some popcorn, get a glass of wine, and put it on, because it’s magnificent,’ Goldberg said.

The show’s Sara Haines said that ‘laughing is literally the ultimate medicine for life and all that it brings,’ and that comedy should have a ‘sacred space’ for artists to work in, as such.

Iconic: Goldberg advised viewers to decide for themselves and watch the movie, which features the late stars Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder

Said Goldberg: ‘Blazing Saddles is one of the greatest because it hits everybody’

The topic was discussed on the show after Mindy Kaling said in a Good Morning America appearance that The Office wouldn’t be accepted by modern audiences

Joy Behar cited the iconic TV series All in the Family and its protagonist Archie Bunker, played by the late Carroll O’Connor, as a character whose ‘bigotry’ should be taken within the content of the program.

‘You take away Archie’s bigotry, you don’t have a character,’ she said. ‘That’s who he was, and that’s the way you’re supposed to look at people. If everybody was perfectly wonderful… and appropriate, then you’d never learn about these other people who exist out there. 

She continued: ‘That’s the purpose of art: To expose you to all aspects of human beings. Why would you want to take away the beauty of watching Archie Bunker make a fool of himself?’

On Good Morning America earlier this month, Kaling explained why she felt The Office would not resonate with TV viewers in 2022.

‘Tastes have changed, and honestly what offends people has changed so much now,’ she said. ‘I think that actually is one of the reasons the show is popular, because people feel like there’s something kind of fearless about it or taboo that it talks about on the show … most of the characters on that show would be canceled by now.’

The View can be seen weekdays on ABC at 11/10c.

The storyline of the film centers around a corrupt politician who appoints a Black sheriff to preside over a village in 1874 

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