Whoopi Goldberg says Barbie wasn’t snubbed by Oscars: 'Not everybody gets a prize'

Whoopi Goldberg — Academy Award-winning actress, former Oscars ceremony host, and ex-Academy board member — has had it with nonsensical discourse surrounding uproar over "snubs" in the aftermath of the 2024 Oscar nominations.

The View moderator and Ghost star responded to criticism hurled at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' voting body during Wednesday's episode of the talk show. Amid a Hot Topics discussion, hosts discussed Barbie star Ryan Gosling voicing disapproval over the Academy's directing and acting branches for not nominating Greta Gerwig for Best Director and producer-star Margot Robbie for Best Actress.

"Barbie grossed over $1 billion. Hello, studios, maybe hire more female directors if you want to produce blockbusters. We're half the population, we turn out, we want to see these. Also, did they miss the whole moral of the story of Barbie? Of course we celebrate just Ken, not the woman who's the lead in it and the icon in it," cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin said at the top of the conversation.

Meanwhile, panelist Sara Haines pushed back: "The message of all of that is not lost on me, but one question I have — and maybe Whoopi is the only one that can answer this — when does it become a snub? I know the film, I know the greatness and the money, but that assumes someone else shouldn't be in there."

Goldberg stepped in, stressing that "everybody doesn't win," and challenged the notion of calling Gerwig and Robbie's omissions as "snubs" at the hands of the organization.

"It's not the elites, it's the entire family of the Academy Awards who vote for Best Picture nominations. We all vote for Best Picture, everybody," she said, though she incorrectly cited that there are between seven to 10 nominations that happen (Best Picture is currently set at a hard 10).

She then used last year's Best Actress winner Michelle Yeoh as an example of one person from a film who earned recognition without the film itself — in this case, Everything Everywhere All at Once — winning Best Picture, despite the fact that the title did win the Academy's top honor last year.

"You don't get everything you want to get," Goldberg stressed, before Sunny Hostin said that she, however, did feel like it was a "snub" to leave filmmaker Ava DuVernay's Origin out of the Oscars race this year.

"There are no snubs. That's what you have to keep in mind: Not everybody gets a prize, and it is subjective. Movies are subjective," Goldberg replied. "The movies you love may not be loved by the people who are voting."

In addition to Griffin, other famous figures joined in slamming the Academy for not nominating Gerwig for direction and Robbie for acting — though it should be noted that Robbie did score an Oscar nomination for producing the Best Picture-nominated Barbie.

Surprise Barbie nominee America Ferrera told EW on Oscar nominations morning that she was "sad and disappointed" by Gerwig and Robbie's omissions in their respective categories, while Hillary Clinton tweeted support for the movie-making duo on Wednesday.

"While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you," she wrote. "You’re both so much more than Kenough."

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.

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