Whoopi Goldberg Goes to War with Bill O’Reilly Over ‘Reverse McCarthyism’ Charge

Donald Trump is having some trouble getting famous musicians to perform at his inauguration and Bill O’Reilly thinks he knows why.

On Tuesday night, the Fox News host declared that a “reverse McCarthyism going on in the entertainment industry” is intimidating right-leaning performers who might otherwise want to celebrate President Trump.

“If you are a Trump supporter, you are a bad person, and a number of entertainers believe their careers will be harmed, should they associate with the new Trump administration,” O’Reilly said in his show’s opening monologue. “Again, that is terrible, an awful state of affairs.”

Even his conservative guest, Charles Krauthammer couldn’t bring himself to agree, responding dryly, “I find it hard to get exercised over the fact that we may be short a Rockette at the inaugural celebration.”

Now, The View’s Whoopi Goldberg has caught wind of O’Reilly’s overblown analogy.

On Wednesday morning, Goldberg openly mocked O’Reilly’s suggestion that “Hollywood bullying” is keeping celebrities away from Trump’s inauguration. “If you don’t vote for people who don’t support you probably won’t get turned down as much,” she said. “I know that one of the people that supported Donald Trump was Ted Nugent. So, why isn’t Ted Nugent performing? He’s one of your big supporters.”

During the final days of the presidential campaign, Trump ridiculed Hillary Clinton for using artists like Jay Z and Beyoncé to pump up her Cleveland rally. But now it seems he wishes he could have performers of that caliber on his side. “Stop going after the lefties to come perform if you think it’s going to be an issue,” Goldberg told Trump. “If you want people to support you, go after your supporters. Don’t go after the people who clearly did not support you and label them as being bad.”

When former Fox News contributor Jedediah Bila brought up the Friends of Abe, a semi-secretive group of Hollywood conservatives who she said are too afraid to identify themselves for fear of professional retribution, Goldberg shot back, “This is B.S.!”

“When you’re talking about people coming to do the inauguration, which is what he’s talking about,” Goldberg said of O’Reilly, “and when you say it’s like McCarthyism, I have to yell B.S. It’s not!”

Joy Behar then suggested that O’Reilly could offer to perform at the inauguration if he is so concerned about it. “He could do a dramatic reading from Killing Lincoln,” she said, referring to one of O’Reilly’s best-selling historical books. “C’mon, Bill! That’s entertainment, honey.”

Either that or Trump’s inaugural committee can allow British reality star Rebecca Ferguson to sing “Strange Fruit.”