Criticizing Malia Obama’s work is one matter, but as Whoopi Goldberg argued on “The View,” trying to use her name change against her is a futile enterprise. “If she knows she’s an Obama, why do you care?” the co-host said. “Why do you care what she calls herself? … If I can be Whoopi Goldberg, she can be whoever the hell she wants to be.”
Goldberg’s birth name is Caryn Elaine Johnson, and she’s just one of the many celebs who is now known by a different moniker. There’s even a star who once found himself in a similar situation as Obama. “Moonstruck” actor Nicolas Cage ditched his surname, Coppola, because he didn’t want people to know that his uncle is acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola.
Of course, Cage’s situation was a bit different because he was trying to get work in Hollywood before the internet age — anyone who watched “The Heart” without knowing that it was directed by an Obama would find this information out immediately upon Googling the title. However, Goldberg still doesn’t get why there’s such a big fuss. “I mean, why are people triggered by this kind of stuff?” she said. Her co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin also pointed out that Malia was in a no-win situation when she decided to pursue a career in the entertainment business; had she kept her last name, she would have been accused of using it to her advantage.
