During a recent broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” show co-host Whoopi Goldberg declared, as her co-hosts celebrated her 69th birthday with Charlotte Russe desserts, that a popular, family-owned Staten Island bakery refused to serve her because of her political views. The owner denies the allegations.
Speaking on the Wednesday, November 13 broadcast, Whoopi said that the Charlotte Russe desserts they were chowing down on, a classic New York City treat, were her mother’s favorite but that the order for her birthday almost fell through because the bakery disliked her political stance.
She declared, as the audience gasped, “Now, I should tell you, Charlotte Russe has no political leanings, and the place that made these refused to make them for me. They said that their ovens had gone down, all kinds of stuff, but folks went and got them anyway, which is why I’m not telling you who made them.”
Continuing, Whoopi went on to say, after lobbing the accusation the bakery’s way, “Perhaps they did not like my politics. But that’s okay, because you know what? Listen, this is my mother’s celebration. Pick these up and celebrate with me and my mom. Thank you everyone for celebrating my birthday today.”
The bakery owner, Jill Holtermann, strenuously denied the claims. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Holtermann said, “They’d asked us and we were having trouble with our boilers.” She then noted that she’d declined Whoopi’s orders because she “didn’t want to make a commitment that I can’t carry through.”
Holtermann noted that the bakery building is about a century old, so it frequently has equipment issues that get in the way of orders, making it difficult to take orders well in advance, as the boilers or other equipment could always fail at an unexpected time.
Holtermann said, speaking about that, “I said to Whoopi, ‘I can’t do it right now. We have so many things going on with my boiler,’ because the building is from 1930, so, when she called me, I had no idea [if we could] be baking everything.” Holtermann added, “it was not because of political” affiliations.
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Whoopi was slammed online for jumping to conclusions and causing chaos for the bakery. One commenter wrote, humorously, “Whoopi Goldberg vs. the Bakery Boiler: proof that even birthday cakes aren’t safe from drama 🍰🔍. After claiming Holtermann’s Bakery wouldn’t take her order due to her *politics,* it turns out the real culprit was a broken 1930s boiler, not a political cold shoulder. 😅 In a world where everything seems politicized, sometimes it’s just old machinery and a little miscommunication. Maybe we all need to double-check before jumping to conclusions—especially when dessert is on the line.”
Another commenter more angrily snapped that Whoopi was endangering a small business with her false claims, writing, “It’s really ridiculous when WEALTHY LEFTISTS publicly bash small businesses that are just trying to make a living! This bakery is a STAPLE on Staten Island and will do JUST FINE without Whoopi Goldberg’s ‘business.’”
On much the same note, still another commenter argued that Whoopi was endangering the business and its owner’s reputation to score political points, writing, “So Whoopi Goldberg tries to destroy a small business owner’s reputation all because it serves her political agenda. Sad … but not surprising.”
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