Whoopi Goldberg to Appear at Virtual Joe Biden Fundraiser

By Gene Maddaus

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Whoopi Goldberg will moderate a virtual fundraiser next week with former vice president Joe Biden.

The event, slated for May 28, will also feature musical performances from Sheryl Crow, Rufus Wainwright, David Crosby and Joe Walsh. The campaign is billing it as a chance to “Rock Out on a Night In” with Biden. Co-chairs of the event commit to raise or contribute $100,000, though tickets can be purchased for as little as $250.

“The View” co-host Goldberg has defended Biden at various points during the campaign, as when he faced initial allegations about inappropriately touching women in the spring of 2019. She also defended him last June, when he was taking criticism for working with segregationists in the Senate in the 1970s.

“He sat for eight years with a black guy,” Goldberg said at the time. “Did he have a noose in the background?! Come on. Come on!”

“The View” is an influential platform much sought after by politicians. But it is relatively rare for the show’s co-hosts to openly stump for a candidate. Goldberg performed at a fundraiser for President Obama in 2011. In 2008, conservative co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck campaigned with Sarah Palin.

In July 2004 — before her tenure as a “View” co-host — Goldberg appeared at a fundraiser for John Kerry at Radio City Music Hall. She made a sexual pun in reference in President Bush, which prompted Slim-Fast to drop her as a brand representative.

Goldberg will moderate the video-streamed event along with Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

Duckworth is said to be in the running to be Biden’s pick for vice president. On Friday, Sen. Dick Durbin told reporters that she would have an interview with the campaign soon.

On May 9, Duckworth held a media call on behalf of AAPI Veterans for Biden.