Whoopi Goldberg, back from her Holocaust minimization-induced vacation, decided to make her new issue defending the Hollywood elites. Apparently, people like Will Smith catch too much flak and aren’t respected enough and Whoopi, one of those elites, felt the need to stand up and defend them.

It began when her co-host, Sunny Hostin, make the reasonable point that Will Smith probably should have been forced to leave the Oscars after he assaulted Chris Rock. As it was, he was asked to leave, but when he refused to do so nothing happened.

In Hostin’s surprisingly reasonable view, his refusal to leave after he’d assaulted a man on live TV showed “Hollywood power” and “an incredible amount of entitlement.”

Well, Whoopi Goldberg took issue with that and defended it, saying that he should have been allowed to stay.

At that point, Setmayer jumped into the fray too, siding with Hostin and saying “But it was an assault. I think there needs to be a lot of self-reflection in Hollywood.”

Whoopi didn’t like that. Not one bit. She furiously fired back, interrupting Setmayer and saying that “stuff happens.” As if “stuff happens” is a reasonable excuse for assault.

Setmayer, not cowed by Whoopi’s rising anger, shot back, saying: “But then they gave him a standing ovation, though, Whoopi, which I think, again, goes back to why some people feel like Hollywood elites are a bunch of hypocrites. They go out there and they give these statements of moral superiority about things, and political statements, and then they’re standing there giving a standing ovation after [Smith] just assaulted Chris Rock.”

That was when Goldberg’s fury rose to a new level. Visibly angry that someone would dare insult “Hollywood elites,” a category she is certainly in, she interrupted again, attacking the idea of Hollywood elites not being good people and comparing the phrase to a racial trope, saying:

“I’m sorry, as one of those people, I’ve got to stop you,” before declaring that although she wouldn’t have stood up to clap for Smith, people sometimes do “stupid” things in the moment. I just want to stop with this ‘elite’ stuff because, you know, a lot of us work for a living. We work. We collect a check. We got families. We try to do the same thing, the good stuff that everybody else tries to do. And it really pisses me off when people start to talk about people who work in Hollywood, not just actors, but all the other folks. So, please, when you’re talking about actors, be specific. If you’re pissed off about somebody or how they act, don’t put it on all of us because that’s like saying all Black people like chicken.”

Watch her here:

Ricky Gervais, mocking the idea that Hollywood personalities are working for a living like normal people, said, in two hilarious Twitter posts:

I’d start with “Hello. I hope this show helps cheer up the ordinary people watching at home. If you’re unemployed for example, take some comfort in the fact that even if you had a job, your salary probably wouldn’t be as much as the goody bag all the actors have just been given.”

“I’m proud to announce that this is the most diverse and progressive Oscars ever. Looking out I see people from all walks of life. Every demographic under the sun. Except poor people, obviously. Fuck them.”

Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video