‘Not everybody wakes up every day thinking about politics,’ said the Staten Island borough president.
Multiple New York City officials have called on Whoopi Goldberg, one of the hosts of “The View,” to issue an apology to a local bakery owner after Goldberg said she was denied service for political reasons.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella was among the group of local leaders and supporters who joined the owner of Holtermann’s Bakery, Jill Holtermann, for a news conference late last week after Goldberg “besmirched and defamed” the bakery owner.
“Not everybody wakes up every day thinking about politics,” Fossella said at the press event. “A good business person doesn’t care about anyone’s politics.”
On Nov. 13, Goldberg, an outspoken Democrat who backed Vice President Kamala Harris, celebrated her 69th birthday on ABC’s “The View” by providing a tray of Charlotte Russe cakes. However, she claimed on the show that the bakery refused to make the cakes for her.
“Now, I should tell you, Charlotte Russe has no political leanings, and the place that made these refused to make them for me,” she said. “They said that their ovens had gone down, but folks went and got them anyway, which is why I’m not telling you who made them.
“It’s not because I’m a woman, but perhaps they did not like my politics,” Goldberg continued. “But that’s OK 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.”
Later, Holtermann told news outlets that it was her bakery, but she said that there was no politics involved. Instead, according to Holtermann, her equipment had malfunctioned.
“I said to Whoopi, ‘I can’t do it right now,’” she told Entertainment Weekly last week. “‘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.”
A day later, Goldberg, whose real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson, responded on Instagram that she believes it was still about politics.
