Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993 TAG: 9312140146
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The comedian, who recently caught flak because she wrote a blackface skit for Ted Danson for a Friar's Club roast, says she finds the trend frightening and ugly.
"It's coming from everywhere. People are slowly losing their ability to listen and make judgments for themselves, and it's just really sad."
The cure, she says, is for people to make decisions on their own. "If you don't want to smoke, fine. Say YOU don't want to smoke and say, `You who smoke go over there. We have a place for you.' You want to have an abortion? That's your right. I don't want to have one, so I'm not going to have one."
"I won't allow anyone to intimidate me into being politically correct," says the 44-year-old actress. "Because political correctness is a lie. Political correctness means I'm going to lie to you and tell you things I don't believe."
Goldberg has just finished "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit," for which she was paid a rumored $7 million. So while it seems everyone has lost their sense of humor, Whoopi is having the last laugh. "The bottom line is that I'm still the highest-paid woman in the history of Hollywood, and there's nothing they can do to negate that. So I just keep on going."
Speaking of which . . . comedian Red Buttons is suing Conan O'Brien and NBC, saying a skit on the "Late Night" TV show implied that he approved of Danson's blackface routine.
Button's lawyers said an Oct. 11 skit on the show featured a blackfaced actor pretending to be Danson who defended the routine by saying, "Red Buttons thought it was a scream."
NBC spokeswoman Judy Smith said the network had no immediate comment. The lawsuit, which seeks $20 million in damages, was filed Thursday.
Buttons, 74, starred in "The Red Buttons Show" on television from 1952 to 1955 and won an Oscar in 1957 for his supporting role in "Sayonara."
by CNB