Whoopi Goldberg Under Fire Over Millennials Remark

Whoopi Goldberg is being criticized on social media after accusing millennials and Generation Z of not having a strong work ethic or being “good citizens.”

On Wednesday’s episode of The View, the 67-year-old actor, and her co-hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sunny Hostin, Sarah Haines and Joy Behar, discussed why millennials are delaying having children or choosing not to have them at all.

Introducing the topic, Goldberg said: “Apparently, millennials and Gen Z have a much different view of the American dream compared to past generations,” before citing data that indicates rising inflation, student debt and fewer opportunities to advance in the workplace are making milestones feel out of reach for younger people.

Millennials are defined as people born between 1981 and 1996 (27 to 42 years old), while Generation Z was born between 1997 and 2012 (11 to 26 years old), per the Pew Research Center.

“Does every generation feel this way at some point? I say ‘Yes,'” said Goldberg, before turning to her co-hosts.

Political strategist Griffin, who is 34 years old and classed as a millennial, agreed with the data findings.

“My generation is a generation of the housing crisis, the financial crisis, 9/11, we’ve been in war basically my entire generation,” she said, before discussing why a number of millennials don’t feel able to financially provide for children in the current economic climate.

“Our American Dream is different,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that their struggles didn’t matter, but on the having kids specifically, I get it. It’s a very real struggle out there.”

Co-hosts Sarah Haines and Sunny Hostin agreed with Griffin and the study’s findings, but Goldberg—who was born in 1955 and part of the Baby Boomer generation—was skeptical.

“I’m sorry. Every generation comes and wants to do better than their parents did,” the Oscar winner said. “But I’m sorry, if you only want to work four hours it’s going to be harder for you to get a house.”

Seemingly unimpressed with Goldberg’s response, Griffin attempted to chime in but was cut off.

“I feel for everybody that feels this,” Goldberg continued. “But I’m sorry, we busted our behinds.”

In response, Griffin highlighted that younger generations are facing the housing crisis, with a recent study by Redfin finding that Americans need to be earning $115,000 a year to afford a “typical U.S. home”—around $40,000 more than the average family income.

“We had all kinds of stuff,” Goldberg said before Griffin cited statistics showing that millennials are the first generation to be financially worse off than their parents.

“That’s what they said to us as well,” Goldberg responded. “Every generation is told you’re going to do worse than your parents. You know what? People pick it up and do what they do, and they raise themselves and this is what you’ve got to do, it’s called being a good citizen.”

Newsweek has reached out to Whoopi Goldberg and Alyssa Farah Griffin for comment via email.

After being shared to X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, by The View’s official social media account, Goldberg’s remarks sparked uproar online with many users slamming the Ghost star’s remarks.

“Whoopi, girl hush! Not one millennial or Gen Z person said they only want to work 4 hours,” said K_Baby.

“It’s giving I hate my grandkids,” wrote @theerkj.

“I like Whoopi Goldberg and have for a very long time, but it’s simply asinine to suggest millennials aren’t doing well financially because we aren’t working hard enough,” said John Elrod III.

“Whoopi Goldberg, who makes MILLIONS each year for being on The View complaining about a generation that struggles to afford rent and basic needs because they make 50K or less a year is just wild,” agreed Mark.

“Um, Whoopi. What generation has the most people working multiple jobs just to live paycheck to paycheck?” said Naught. “Stop telling us to ‘work.’ We are. We’re working ourselves into early graves.”

“Whoopie is out of touch on this subject. She shouldn’t have spoke,” wrote Michael Hamel, while Vesper X commented: “Privilege is blinding. Even to those who came from struggle.”

However, some users defended Goldberg, with Simone aLeesa writing: “Hard not to think of (some) gen y as whiners.

“I don’t remember anyone assuming they would own a house (born in 60’s),” she said. “We were booted out by 20 & we shared apartments. We worked really hard.”

In a survey of 1,500 American adults conducted by Redfield and Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek, over half of 18 to 34-year-olds said they would be more likely to have kids if the cost was lower, while millennials aged 25 to 34 said a lower cost of living would make them think seriously about having children.

Mortgage rates hit a record high in October while inflation had risen by 3.7 percent the month before amid a rise in gas prices. The U.S. birth rate has been in decline since 2008, with the pandemic causing 15 percent of would-be parents to delay their plans due to the issues it generated.