Whoopi Goldberg blames ‘the winds’ for LA fires: ‘It’s nobody’s fault’
Whoopi Goldberg wants people to stop “pointing fingers” and assigning blame for the deadly LA fires.
On Monday’s episode of “The View,” the Oscar-winner, 69, said that last week’s hurricane-force winds that blew throughout Southern California are responsible for sparking the flames that have wreaked havoc across Los Angeles County.
“There was a fire catastrophe in California. It had to do with winds,” she told the studio audience. “The winds move things and sparks move things.”
Whoopi Goldberg wants people to stop “pointing fingers” over the LA fires. ABC
“It doesn’t matter how much water you have if 900,000 buildings go up at the same time.”
Goldberg continued, “Having lived in California, having lost every house save for one that we ever lived in, I take great offense at pointing fingers.”
“You should be pointing fingers about, how can we help?” she added. “It’s too soon to be saying, ‘Oh it’s [California Governor] Gavin [Newsom]’s fault.’ It’s nobody’s fault.”
Goldberg spoke about the blazes on Monday. ABC
“It’s like us taking seriously that there are magic lasers in the sky that direct the weather. That doesn’t work, that doesn’t happen.”
Seeking to underscore the “natural” in “natural disaster,” Goldberg said, “We don’t control Mother Nature. Mother Nature doesn’t give a damn what we want.”
“Mother Nature does what she does and if you’re in the way, this is what happens, and California is chock full of people.”
The comedian spoke more about the political jockeying over the disaster on “The View” podcast “Behind the Table.” X /@TheView
“This is Mother Nature,” Goldberg said. X /@TheView
The comedian expanded her thoughts on the LA fires during Monday’s episode of “The View: Behind the Table.”
“There’s a lot happening. And please don’t blame the people for this. This is Mother Nature, and nobody was prepared for it,” she implored while chatting with podcast co-host and “The View” executive producer Brian Teta.
“And you couldn’t have been prepared for it because what mind could ever think that 75 hundred-thousand buildings were going to burn at the same time?”
Strong winds blow embers as the Palisades Fire burns homes on the Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images
The wind whips embers as the Palisades fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, California. REUTERS
“My whole neighborhood is gone,” she confessed. “The Palisades is gone. It’s insane. It’s insane. So I’m hoping that people will stop listening to people who are blaming other people and just try to figure ways to help.”
Since fires broke out in LA last week, the city’s mayor, Karen Bass, and Governor Newsom have been at the center of a debate about the local and state government’s response to the catastrophe.
As of Monday, the combined death toll among the LA fires — including the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire — has risen to at least 24 people. Nearly 200,000 others have been displaced, and 39,000 acres of land have burned down.
