Whoopi Blasts Bill Maher for Being 'Over' COVID: 'How Dare You Be So Flippant!'

Whoopi Goldberg renewed her feud with Bill Maher Monday morning after the Real Time host insisted he's over the "masked, paranoid world" of COVID-19 restrictions. As she's wont to do, Whoopi unloaded on Maher for refusing to acknowledge that many people, including children under the age of 5, are ineligible for the COVID vaccine, and therefore can't return to pre-pandemic normalcy. "How dare you be so flippant, man!" said The View's longtime moderator.

Over the weekend, Maher caused a stir when he and guest Bari Weiss proclaimed that they're "over" the pandemic. "I don't want to live in your paranoid world anymore," he said on the Real Time premiere Friday night. "It's silly now. You mask, you have to have a card, you have to have a booster. They scan your head like you're a cashier and I'm a bunch of bananas. I'm not bananas — you are!"

"That's not really funny to people who have lost their kids to this [virus], to people who have lost family members or dear friends to this," replied Whoopi, after The View played a clip of Maher's monologue. "Listen, nobody on the planet really wants to go through this. This is not something we're doing because it's sexually gratifying! This is what we're doing to protect our families!"

BILL MAHER DECRIES “MASKED, PARANOID WORLD”: The co-hosts weigh in on the comments made by the comedian over the weekend on his show, ‘Real Time with Bill Maher.’ https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/CnuZZWZPt1

— The View (@TheView) January 24, 2022

Whoopi added that Maher should "stay away from everybody" if he doesn't want to adhere to COVID restrictions. "If you're the one who's not paying attention and you're coughing and sneezing, you don't wanna — then stay out of the public, man! Nobody wants this! I don't want it," she said. "And I think he's forgetting that people are still at risk who cannot get vaccinated — little kids under the age of 5! Or people with health conditions."

After some back and forth — during which Sara Haines was the only co-host to agree with Maher — Whoopi got in one last zinger. "There are little kids who can't get vaccinated, lots of people who cannot get vaccinated," she said. "And so you're playing Russian Roulette with their lives! I'm just saying."

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.