Key Points
Whoopi Goldberg slammed Donald Trump’s threat of a Hollywood tariff on foreign-made films.
“We teach people who will never get to America what America is all about,” Goldberg said of Hollywood.
“I don’t think he knows what he’s talking about,” Sunny Hostin added.
Oscar-winning Hollywood legend Whoopi Goldberg doesn’t want President Donald Trump to make a production of imposing what she said would be harmful tariffs on foreign-made film industry projects.
After Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on American movies that film in international territories after a “concerted effort” by other countries to court Hollywood productions, Goldberg took a firm stand against the initiative Tuesday morning from her post on The View.
“Okay, look, you can’t do that, because what that equates to is, you’re going to tell me how to write the story I want to write if it happens in Europe,” the 69-year-old Ghost and Sister Act star said. “Look, could you please lower the price of eggs before you start this?”
Goldberg elaborated on her strong feelings about a potential political act that would harm her industry, telling the audience that, “when you go over to another country to work, you work with the people who are there. We don’t import our folks to go over there. Who are you going to put this tariff on? The production? The studio? What are you talking about?”
Legal expert Sunny Hostin said that she doesn’t “think he knows what he’s talking about” at all, and cited the recent global box office success of movies like Sinners playing in dozens of territories around the world (to the tune of $237.3 million to date) as an example of a positive export from the United States.
“That helps the United States. I don’t think he understands simple math,” Hostin said, while conservative cohost and former Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin speculated that Emily in Paris could shift to be “Emily in Paris, Texas” or The White Lotus could soon be “White Lotus: Mar-a-Lago edition” as a result.
“The stories are going to be very limited if you can only shoot here,” Griffin continued, also pointing out that state-by-state tax incentives — like those in Georgia — can make American locales desirable filming locations as well.
Goldberg added that there’s a reason big-budget productions shoot overseas, and stressed that you “couldn’t have shot [The Passion of the Christ] in Texas” after the filmmakers decided to make the 2004 movie in Italy.
“It is part of what we do. Please stop,” Goldberg implored. “The bottom line is tax incentives. If you want to change, you have to change it in the states and make it available for people to shoot here. Don’t stop us from going over and shooting overseas, because then you’re limiting us.”
ABC
Whoopi Goldberg on ‘The View’
Goldberg finished: “And also, not for nothing. The movies teach people English. We teach people who will never get to America, what America is all about. We show them who we are. If you impose a tax like this, you’re saying that we’re not good enough, and that’s not the case. We’re the best in the world.”
When reached for comment about the initial tariff threat, a White House spokesperson, Kush Desai, told Entertainment Weekly via email: “Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while making Hollywood great again.”
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In addition to his tariff threat, Trump previously appointed conservative actors Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight to the position of “Special Ambassadors” to Hollywood.
“They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!” Trump said in January. “These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!”
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.
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