My Verbal Bout with Whoopi Goldberg
I’m still in a state of awe after what unfolded for this particular adventure when myself and Doc took a trip to attempt to meet actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg. We drove down to Disney for their annual holiday performances in which they recruit different celebrities to recite lines to a story while a choir sings in between. There were two other friends that met up with us to give it a shot as well. The final song was played and Whoopi thanked the audience for attending and talked about how people should be nice to one another, especially during these tough times. People should do good deeds and pay it forward was her motto as she waved goodbye to the crowd and disappeared into the backstage area.
The four of us patiently awaited our chance to encounter Whoopi as she exited the event and when she finally walked by, with several Disney employees surrounding her, she stated that due to her been exhausted from several shows that she was going to rest a bit in one spot to watch the nightly firework presentation the theme parks puts on. We had no problem waiting a little longer, so we found a nearby bench to take a breather ourselves and watched the fireworks display.
After being blinded by the brightness of all the fireworks shot off and hearing the deafening loud bangs going on for quite awhile, we took our positions to once again greet Whoopi Goldberg since we respected her wishes of resting to watch the display. However, she had a different idea in mind, even knowing full well we each wanted to have a few items autographed. She gave a short spiel about not being able to sign anything because of still being tired and complaining there were just too many people to sign for, when in reality there was only four of us actually asking. We were all very baffled by this, so in a nice way I said we had waited all this time and just requested a couple photographs to be signed which we would greatly appreciate. “This is f#@-ing Disney!” she retorted, “If I sign for you I’ll have to sign for all these f^%!ers!”
I kept my cool and said, “That’s not really the way it works. Trust me, these people are not going to bum rush you for autographs. I have an aunt whose two favorite movies are Sister Act and Ghost, she loves you in those films, and I was hoping you’d be nice enough to sign them since I wanted to give these as Christmas gifts. But, if you don’t want to sign, then so be it.” Whoopi gets quite agitated hearing my remarks and snaps back saying, “Just because you don’t get what you want you think I’m not being nice?”, to which I replied, “Well, you were up there on stage talking about doing good deeds for others and being nice during the holiday season and I’m trying to get just two photos autographed to do something nice for someone as a gift, so you tell me if you’re being nice, but hey, once again, if you don’t want to sign, then so be it.”
Whoopi is absolutely fuming at this point and angrily growls, “Ok, follow me!” I walked with her and her Disney security guards as Doc and our other two buddies followed further behind as well. We all reached a part where no other Disney guests were and one of the security guards who was walking in front of me then turns around holding his hand up telling me to stop. I told him I’m not trying to cause any trouble and at this point Whoopi looks back and waves me closer to her.
I walk up and lay my two photos on a spot for her to sign and she continues to berate me for my actions saying, “That is a shitty thing you did!” Once again in a calm demeanor I thanked her for taking the time to sign these and also politely asked if taking a picture with her was possible. “No! Don’t push it!” she snarled back at me. Whoopi then waved Doc on to sign an item and one other friend of ours as well. She looks back at me and just will not drop it, stating, “Don’t you ever do that to anyone again!” There was no need to stoop to her level and snap back at her, so with a smile on my face I looked back and said, “Thanks for taking the time to sign. Happy holidays.”
As she walked off and we went our separate ways she had parting words of letting me know to not mention what just happened to anyone. Oops. Too late.
