Whoopi Goldberg Called Out The Royal Family, Asked Them To Apologize For UK's History With Slavery

As one of the very few actresses to win an Academy Award, a Grammy, an Emmy, and a Golden Globe award, Whoopi Goldberg has undoubtedly made her mark in the entertainment industry. The star has also left her mark in activism, as she has advocated for human rights, health rights, and child rights on several occasions. 

Recently, she took some time to call out the royal family and asked for an apology from Britain for being primarily involved in the slavery that lasted for a long time and affected millions of people.

On her show "The View," she urged the royal children to give an apology on their family’s behalf and insisted that the world couldn’t pretend like it didn’t happen. Keep scrolling to find out more. 

Many fans believed that Goldberg’s outburst was because of the events of the royal trip that Prince William and his wife, Duchess Kate Middleton, took around the Bahamas and Belize in Jamaica. 

During the trip, the Duke reportedly felt “profound sorrow” about the involvement of the UK in slavery in the past, and he mentioned this while dining with Jamaica’s Governor-General.

While co-hosting a recent episode of "The View," Goldberg mentioned that the world couldn’t turn a blind eye to the oppression that millions of people in many countries suffered for years. 

“We cannot ignore the fact that Britain ran roughshod over India for years,” she said, “Let us not forget, when we talk about what needs to happen, all the folks that need to apologize.”

Prince William said many things to make fans believe he was remorseful for what happened. He insisted that slavery was a horrible thing, and it should never have happened to anyone. He went on to say that slavery would leave a permanent dent in UK’s history. 

“I strongly agree with my father, the Prince of Wales, who said in Barbados last year that the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history,” he said. Prince Charles made the statement during an earlier royal trip.

He also commended Jamaica’s “courage and fortitude” and their strength. He also talked about their “invincible spirit,” referring to the Windrush generation, which generally talks about the half-a-million people that moved from Jamaica to the UK from 1948 to 1971. 

“Listen, this is not new. I suspect Charles, when he was in Barbados, had some idea because he went on and apologized as he was releasing the hold that Britain has,” Goldberg said as per Insider. referring to the speech that Prince William gave, acknowledging the “appalling atrocity of slavery, which forever stains our history.”

She explained that since he talked about it, “somebody is listening,” “and it’s the new group of folks — I don’t know if it’s Charles, William, but one of them is supposed to be the person.”

Fans believed that the speech he gave was influenced by the anti-colonial protest in front of the British High Commission. The demonstrators were about 350, and they also asked for an outright apology from Britain. However, the Prince did not apologize. 

Several protests were waiting for the Duke and Duchess to arrive in Jamaica, which forced them to change routes during their trip. The country has even reportedly demanded to be considered a republic and removed from the Commonwealth, thereby removing the Queen as the head of state. 

The protesters were upset about the enslavement, but they were also shocked that the British government gave over £20 million — which is equal to £20-26 billion in the present, to slave owners to compensate them for “losing their property” as BBC reported. 

These debts that the British government entered into were only settled in 2015. Some records have even shown that some descendants of famous figures like George Orwell the author and David Cameron the Prime Minister were beneficiaries of the compensation.