Even Whoopi Goldberg Thinks Enough is Enough, Calls Out Re-Editing of Books to Make them Less Offensive, ‘Ya’ll Have Got to Stop This’

The View’s Whoopi Goldberg was up in arms over the re-editing of books publishers seem to be taking on. It was announced that Ian Fleming’s James Bond books are being re-edited to remove “offensive content”. This news came a week after Puffin announced it was removing “offensive content” from Roald Dahl’s classics, “Matilda”, “James and the Giant Peach” and “Charlie and the Cholocate Factory”.

Goldberg finds the re-editing ridiculous and mentioned that if the publishers were to do anything, they could add a warning to the book, but don’t change how it was written.

After going over the news Whoopi started, “Look, y’all got to stop this. Just put a disclaimer that says, listen, this put was written at this time or put out the original and what y’all have done. Because kids should have the right to read how people thought so that they know how to make the change.”

She then reflected on a similar attempt made to censor books by Mark Twain. “You know, they tried to do this with Mark Twain as well because they were so concerned the n-word was in the book. Well that’s how they did it. That’s how it was. We don’t want people doing it today and you don’t see it as much. That’s how people learn.” 

Whoopi Goldberg on the James Bond and Dahl books being edited to remove "offensive" content: "Y'all gotta stop this."

"Kids should have the right to read how people thought so that they know how to make the change." pic.twitter.com/eoHy6JU2Zt

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) February 27, 2023

While most of the co-hosts agreed with Whoopi, Sunny Hostin did not.

Hostin said of the Bond Books, “When you think about a book like James Bond, and I’m a huge James Bond fan, in his Live and Let Die book, in that novel, he visits Harlem and uses the n-word to describe almost every that Black person he sees there. And in my view, the sensitivity of the edits now say ‘black man,’ ‘black woman,’ ‘black person.’ I appreciate that. You don’t have to call me the n-word for me to understand my oppression. And I think when someone who is oppressed tells you that, you should listen,”

Even Goldberg drew a line at changing historical fiction to be less offensive. How do we learn? how do we understand the past if we edit it all away.