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Whoopi Goldberg stepped in to defend Beyoncé’s recent Grammy wins after the singer’s victory was heavily criticized on Fox News.
On talk show The View, Goldberg highlighted a segment of Monday night’s The Ingraham Angle on Fox News, which saw conservative author Raymond Arroyo tell host Laura Ingraham that Beyoncé’s history-making wins were a “ridiculous outcome.”
“The country artists are not really happy about this,” Arroyo claimed. “I’m gonna put this in some context, Laura: Dolly Parton has 10 Grammys. Frank Sinatra had 11 Grammys. Beyoncé has 35. How is that possibly commensurate with that talent? I mean come on.”
He went on to argue that Beyoncé’s success was down to the fact that “Lady Gaga’s cat sitter votes for best reggae and best country albums.”
Speaking on The View, Goldberg took Arroyo to task. “Sir, are you aware that you have to be in the music industry to be a Grammy voter? So, the cat sitter can’t just vote,” she began.
“Are you aware that when the Grammys began in 1959, there were only 28 categories, now there are 94? The year that Frank Sinatra got six nominations despite having two No. 1 albums, he only won one Grammy that night for his album cover — not even for his singing, for the album cover. Listen, man. You can’t do that. She earned it.”
In fact, Sinatra was only nominated four times at the 1959 Grammys. His sole win that year was for Best Recording Package.
Goldberg went on to criticize Arroyo for implying that “white people didn’t also buy her country album”.
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“Come on, man! People voted for it,” she added. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. Same with the Oscars. Sit down!”
Despite being the most decorated artist in Grammy history, Beyoncé had never won Album of the Year before. She had previously been snubbed four times over the Recording Academy’s top prize, most famously when Adele won for 25 over Beyoncé’s Lemonade in 2017.
Kendrick Lamar was another of the night’s big winners, taking home Song of the Year and Record of the Year for his Drake diss track, “Not Like Us.”
Elsewhere at the ceremony, controversial rapper Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori made headlines after she appeared on the red carpet nearly nude. It has since emerged she will not face legal action for the stunt.
