Whoopi Goldberg Defends The Odyssey After Right-Wing Backlash

Whoopi Goldberg had a message for the so-called “conservative” voices who have recently taken aim at Christopher Nolan’s new film The Odyssey.

During a recent instalment of The View, on which the Oscar winner is a moderator, she brought up the right-wing backlash that has dogged the movie in the lead-up to its release, most notably due to the casting of Lupita Nyong’o and Elliot Page as Helen Of Troy and Sinon, respectively.

“Apparently, conservative critics are losing their minds over the cast of the Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey,” Whoopi told viewers.

“They were doing that even before it came out, but now that it’s number one at the box office, some of them are still trashing the movie.”

She continued: “Listen, a lot of conservatives who see this are going to feel the same way. That’s OK.

“But I don’t understand – if you feel like that, why go see the movie? If you don’t want to see it, then don’t go see it. Why do you care who’s cast in it? I don’t understand this idea that ‘if we hate it, everyone must hate it, because we hate it for this reason’. You don’t like Elliot Page? Don’t go see the damn movie! Don’t do it. We will be OK, if you don’t go see it.”

After a discussion with her fellow panellists, Whoopi reiterated: “I don’t understand it, I don’t get why you have to poop on everything you don’t get.”

“We don’t care what you think about the movies,” she concluded. “They’re not real – movies are not real. We are real. So please, get it together.”

Although Nolan has chosen not to speak about the right-wing backlash directly, he did tell The Telegraph in the lead-up to The Odyssey’s release: “These conversations that happen before people see the film – they’re always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet.”

He also defended Lupita’s casting, telling Elle earlier this year: “The strength and the poise were so important to the character of Helen. And Lupita makes it look effortless. I’m sure there’s a tremendous amount of discipline and training that goes into projecting that kind of poise and feeling the emotion bubbling beneath the character, the layers of the character right there underneath.

“She’s just an incredible person to work with, and I was absolutely desperate for her to do the part.”

The Odyssey is in cinemas now.