When American Idol appeared in fans’ living rooms at the beginning of the 2000s, people were shocked by the honesty that it had in its first run. As the years have gone on, Whoopi Goldberg has not been fond of the way the program conducts itself.
The entire premise of the singing competition revolves around three judges scrutinising the ability of performers in order to find a new pop sensation. However, their judgement has been criticised in the past as leaning to close to public bullying. Some notable winners in the early seasons included artists like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
When talking about the show today, Goldberg is not happy with the show, saying that it contributed to the “downfall of society”. In a recent chat on The View, Goldberg expressed her feelings about people latching onto the show because of the judgmental angle, saying, “People watch these shows because they make them feel better. I think that we, as a society, love to watch stuff to judge folks”.
Despite the judgmental side of the show, some of the biggest names to come from it have not been the winners, with pop singer and Queen frontman Adam Lambert being on the show and only placing in second. Goldberg doesn’t think that American Idol is the only problem.
As she continued: “You have ‘Basketball Wives,’ you have the ‘Housewives’ of whatever, all the Bravo shows, giving you the impression that you’re doing something wrong because you’re living your life”. These ‘Housewives’ have been known to depict the feuds among some of the biggest housewives in Hollywood.
Goldberg was prompted to talk about the reality show debacle after the reception of the latest documentary on Anna Nicole-Smith, which was recently brought to Netflix. Nicole-Smith had passed away back in 2007 after what was believed to be an accidental drug overdose.
While Goldberg maintained the opinion that “people like to be judgy”, she explained that society has gotten out of control. Despite Goldberg’s comments, the latest of American Idol began airing on February 19th, 2023.
