Whoopi Goldberg: Military Widows Love 15 Minutes in Spotlight-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Whoopi Goldberg said on “The View” that military widows love getting their 15 minutes in the spotlight after a rousing ovation for the widow of fallen Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens during President Trump’s State of the Union Address.
The Truth:
A fake news website is behind false reports that Whoopi Goldberg said military widows love their 15 minutes in the spotlight.
The rumor started with an article published by the Underground News Report website under the headline, “Whoopi Goldberg: Navy SEAL Widow was ‘Looking for Attention’,” on March 1, 2017. The article begins:
Whoopi Goldberg is in hot water after comments she made Wednesday regarding the Navy SEAL widow that was honored last night during President Donald Trump’s historical speech.
“She was just looking for attention. These military widows love their 15 minutes in the spotlight”, Goldberg said.
“If it were me I wouldn’t be able to leave the house. How can someone who is truly grieving go out there and be on TV. It just doesn’t make sense to me”
After last night’s demonstration where several democrats in leadership roles refused to stand while the widow was being honored, Goldberg continues to make the point that liberals lack a significant amount of class.
The story was shared more than 50,000 times on Facebook, and hundreds of readers blasted Whoopi Goldberg in the comments section for apparently belittling military widows with her remarks. Buried beneath all those comments at the bottom of the webpage, however, is a disclaimer that describes the site’s material as “political satire”:
Underground News Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within Undergroundnewsreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction. Undergroundnewsreport.com is not meant for individuals under the age of 18.
The publisher also updated the story with link to a second post “for anybody who believes this story or any other story on this website.” The linked page included a description of the site as satire under the headline, “Breaking: Satire Makes Fools of Gullible Trump Supporters.”
The controversy played out after fallen Navy SEAL Ryan Owens’ wife, Carryn Owens, received a two-minute long standing ovation during President Trump’s State of the Union Address. Trump had received criticism for authorizing the raid on suspected terrorist compound in Yemen that claimed Owens’ life in the days leading up to his address. Critics argued that the raid was poorly planned and resulted in no useful intelligence. Trump said during the address that the raid had, in fact, resulted in valuable intelligence.
The following day, the subject was debated on “The View.” Co-host Sunny Hostin argued that President Trump had exploited the military widow for political gain during the segment, which drew fire from conservative media outlets. Whoopi Goldberg, meanwhile, kicked off the segment by saying, “(Trump) blamed U.S. generals for Ryan’s death. Saying, ‘they lost Ryan.’ That mission could not have happened without presidential approval, which is why Obama never gave the go-ahead, because he felt that it wasn’t good enough to send our people there. So, was this a tribute, or was this damage control?”
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kojuOBU7BpE[/embedyt]
In the end, reports that Whoopi Goldberg said military widows always love 15 minutes of fame are fiction. They were started by a website that confuses faked news for satire.