Goldberg announced on the Monday morning edition of ABC’s The View that she would be departing the tumultuous social media platform by the end of the day. The award-winning actor expressed frustration over the “messy” situation on the app in the wake of billionaire Elon Musk taking over the company last month and worries over certain people being allowed back onto the platform.
“I’m getting off today because I just feel like it’s so messy, and I’m tired of now having certain kinds of attitudes blocked now getting back on,” Goldberg said. “So I’m gonna get out, and if it settles down enough and I feel more comfortable maybe I’ll come back. But as of tonight, I’m done with Twitter.”
Goldberg follows in the footsteps of other celebrities like Gigi Hadid, Sara Bareilles, Shonda Rhimes, Mick Foley, and Tea Leoni, who have also quit Twitter in recent weeks. Many other prominent figures have also discussed leaving in the near future.
Conservative Twitter users, who have largely celebrated Musk’s takeover of the site and his stated goals of enhancing its “free speech” principles, reacted to Goldberg’s announcement with varying sorts of derision. Some celebrated the departure of another nominally left-leaning figure while others dismissed the importance of it and questioned Goldberg’s relevance.
“Dear @WhoopiGoldberg, Nobody cares,” user Kafisss, whose bio touts her MAGA allegiance, wrote.
“Twitter is great again because Whoopi Goldberg is leaving the platform!” conservative author Nick Adams tweeted.
“people were only on twitter to follow the gentle musings of whoopi,” right-leaning commentator and YouTuber Tim Pool tweeted. “Its all over now.”
“Darn. How ever will I get my news from the woman who said Jill Biden should be the Surgeon General? (Jill Biden is not a medical doctor.),” conservative activist Scott Presler tweeted.
“Will Whoopi please leave @Twitter?” former Georgia state Representative Vernon Jones tweeted.
As of Monday afternoon, Goldberg’s Twitter account has been deactivated, with old links to her page serving messages that the user no longer exists on the platform. According to archival data, Goldberg had roughly 1.6 million followers and joined back in April 2011, though did not appear to make frequent use of the platform.
Musk’s short tenure as the head of Twitter has been marked by controversy and instability, with advertisers like General Mills, Pfizer and Volkswagen abandoning the platform over plans for more lax moderation and more than 3,000 employees being laid off. Musk also instituted a widely criticized plan to require users to pay $8 a month to be verified on Twitter and seemingly lowering the requirements for receiving verification.
Newsweek reached out to Goldberg’s representation at WME for comment.
