Australian broadcaster and columnist Rita Panahi is making headlines across both sides of the Pacific after launching an explosive takedown of Whoopi Goldberg, accusing the View co-host of spreading “divisive, ill-informed rhetoric” and abusing her platform on national television.

In a segment aired on Sky News Australia, Panahi didn’t mince words.

“Whoopi Goldberg has gone from Oscar-winning actress to a mouthpiece for lazy, intellectually bankrupt activism,” Panahi declared. “What she’s doing isn’t commentary — it’s cultural vandalism masquerading as insight.”

🎯 The Trigger: Goldberg’s Comments on Race, Politics, and WNBA

The latest firestorm was ignited after Goldberg suggested on The View that Caitlin Clark’s popularity was largely due to her being white and straight, and then compared criticism of race-based advantages in sports to suggesting someone only got into an Ivy League school because they were Black.

To Panahi, the statements were “not just wrong — they’re dangerous.”

“Reducing an elite athlete’s accomplishments to skin color is not progressive, it’s regressive,” she said. “And it sends a clear message: merit no longer matters.”

Panahi also lambasted Goldberg’s “habit of using race as a blunt instrument” in American discourse, calling her a “serial offender when it comes to cheap, race-baiting soundbites.”

📺 “If She Were on Any Other Network, She’d Be Fired”

Panahi suggested that Goldberg’s tenure on The View continues only because she exists in a “media bubble protected from accountability.”

“If a conservative said half of what Goldberg routinely spews, they’d be fired before the commercial break,” she added. “But when it’s Whoopi, it’s just another Tuesday.”

Panahi also took issue with what she called Goldberg’s “unrelenting hostility toward conservative women, Christians, and anyone outside her Manhattan-Hollywood worldview.”

🌍 Global Reactions: “Whoopi’s Influence Reaches Beyond the U.S.”

Panahi’s segment quickly went viral, sparking debate internationally. In the UK, broadcaster Piers Morgan reposted the clip with the caption: “Panahi is 🔥 and she’s 100% right.”

In the U.S., responses were predictably polarized.

Conservatives praised Panahi’s “brutal honesty,” while liberal commentators accused her of “piling on a Black woman with a long history of standing up for civil rights.”

🧨 A Pattern of Controversy

Goldberg is no stranger to backlash. In recent years, she has been suspended from The View over Holocaust comments, criticized for remarks about the Catholic Church, and accused of shutting down opposing opinions on live television.

“It’s not about dialogue anymore,” Panahi said. “It’s about dominance. And Whoopi wants to dominate every conversation with her tired brand of progressive outrage.”

✅ Bottom Line:

Rita Panahi’s blistering takedown of Whoopi Goldberg marks another shot in the ongoing culture war between media elites and their critics. Whether you see her as a truth-teller or a troublemaker, one thing is certain: Panahi isn’t afraid to say what others won’t — and she just made Whoopi the target of her sharpest arrows yet