Whoopi Goldberg defended the western satirical Blazing Saddles on Wednesday against Internet trolls who tried to cancel it with allegations that it was supposed to make jokes about racism.
The hosts of “The View” got into a discussion about how classic comedies will age in 2022 — a topic inspired by Mindy Kaling’s recent comment that “The Office” is “too inappropriate now” and could never be made today.
Goldberg says that the 1974 Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles is straight, straight, forward with racism and makes you think about it and laugh — because, listen, it’s not just racism, it’s “-isms”. ‘ It beats all the ‘-isms’.
Set in 1874, it follows a corrupt politician who hires a black sheriff to keep a frontier village from being destroyed.
Blazing Saddles, because it’s a great comedy, still holds up today – there are a lot of comedies that aren’t good, right? We’re just saying – this isn’t one of them. Blazing Saddles is one of the best , because it affects everyone,” Goldberg noted.
“If you’ve never seen Blazing Saddles, do yourself a favor, grab some popcorn, grab a glass of wine and put it on, because it’s amazing,” Goldberg said.
Co-host Sarah Hynes agreed that “laughter is literally the best medicine for life and everything it brings” and that comedy should be a “sanctuary” for artists.
“You take away Archie’s bigotry, you’ve got no character,” Joy Behar said, bringing up the 70s TV series All in the Family.
“That’s how he was, and that’s how you should treat people,” he continued. “If everyone is so wonderful … and worthy, you’ll never know about the other people who are out there.”
“The purpose of art: to reveal all the sides of the human being. Why would you want to take away the beauty of watching Archie Bunker make a fool of himself? Behar concluded.
“Leave my Burning Saddles alone. Don’t make me come to you,” Goldberg quipped at the end of the segment.
The “Sister Act” star also had her own on “The View” earlier this week there is a clause in the will This prevents unauthorized biopics about him after he died.
.