Whoopi Goldberg recently challenged Meghan Markle’s comments that she felt “objectified” during her stint on the game show “Deal or No Deal.”
“The View” moderator argued during Wednesday’s episode of the daytime show that the Duchess of Sussex’s perspective may have been self-imposed.
“The objectification might be coming from you, and you felt about how these women were being portrayed,” Goldberg said, adding “We’re performers, when you’re a performer, you take the gig. You take the gig. Sometimes you’re in a bozo suit, sometimes you got a big nose, and this is just the way it is.”
“We’re not journalists, we’re actors, we’re trying to get to another place,” she continued.
Meghan had discussed her time working as a “briefcase girl” on Howie Mandel’s “Deal or No Deal” in 2006. During Tuesday’s episode of her podcast, “Archetypes,” she explained that although she was grateful to have a job as an “auditioning actress,” she ended up quitting the show because it made her feel “not smart.”
She said she knew she was “so much more than what was being objectified on the stage.”
Goldberg, who has achieved EGOT status as an entertainer, said she felt it was the royal’s prerogative to quit the show. But she also said she believes the “Deal or No Deal” contestants were focused on winning money – not on women’s appearances.
“I don’t think that people were looking at these girls like this, I think people wanted the money,” she said.
Goldberg’s co-host Joy Behar pushed back on her statements, calling out the gender dynamics on many game shows.
“Why is that every game show has a guy running it… and some gorgeous woman turning letters or holding a box?” Behar said.
Co-host Sunny Hostin also chimed in criticizing the lack of body inclusivity among women typically featured on game shows.
“But what did you think you were going to? You know what the show was,” Goldberg responded.
Claudia Jordan, former star of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” had also pushed back on Meghan’s comments this week.
The talk show host, who had also appeared on “Deal or No Deal,” spoke positively about her time on the show in statements posted on her Instagram stories, according to Deadline.
“And Deal or No Deal never treated us like bimbos,” Jordan said in one post. “We got so many opportunities because of that show.”
Jordan later clarified that her comments were not an “attack on Meghan,” but rather an opportunity to address any “misunderstanding about the climate and environment on the ‘Deal or No Deal’ set,” Deadline reported.
