Whoopi Goldberg was fine.
Black men in the 1980’s were wrong like hell for calling her ugly, and we need to examine colorism.
Whoopi Goldberg (Caryn Elaine Johnson) was born in 1955. By the time 1985 came around, she was thirty years old. This is where we saw her in her breakout role as Celie in The Color Purple. She was thirty-five when she showed up as the eccentric psychic in the movie Ghost in 1990. She subsequently stole the show, making nuns cool in the movie Sister Act in 1992, which demanded a sequel which was released in 1993.
Long story short: rappers, athletes, and other Black celebrities were wrong in calling a 1980–1990s Whoopi Goldberg ugly. She was fine.
Whoopi Goldberg was pretty in the Color Purple. She was cute, adorable, all of that.
When I was young, I’ll have to admit I couldn’t see it, but I can see it now. I question why as a child, I couldn’t see Whoopi Goldberg’s beauty? Was it because I was young? Or is it because of the misogynoir in the era? Or both? Sometimes, when I see Black teenagers speak of light-skinned women’s preference, I feel for the dark-skinned ladies, like Whoopi Goldberg. This is not to diminish light-skinned ladies; it’s just that in hyper-glorifying light skin tones, it’s a passive exclusion of the darker skin tones. Darker skin tones…
