Warning! The following contains spoilers for After the Dance with Stephen A. Smith. Read at your own risk!
The Last Dance has completed on ESPN, but audiences still can't get enough. Fortunately, ABC aired After the Dance with Stephen A. Smith in which the ESPN pundit interviewed various celebrities about the hit docuseries, and asked for their personal stories and experiences with NBA legend Michael Jordan. Among those interviewed was Whoopi Goldberg, who was asked her opinion on Jordan's aversion to politics and speaking out on social issues during his professional career.
In comparison, Whoopi Goldberg hits on some of the hottest issues in the news on a daily basis on The View. Stephen A. Smith asked Goldberg what her take was on the segment in The Last Dance explaining Michael Jordan's aversion to politics. As someone rarely afraid to make her opinion known, Goldberg conceded that not everyone can be as bold, saying:
Everybody is not cut out for it, everybody is not cut out for that. He did what he did the way he did it. There he was, a big black man that was sweeping the world. What else did he need to say? What else did he need to do in particular? He was doing what he could do when he was doing it. It’s not for everybody.
Whoopi Goldberg essentially stated that Michael Jordan didn't want to be that person for the world, and that's okay. It's not an easy task to take on, and Goldberg may be one of few celebrities in Hollywood who knows that much better than most.
Whoopi Goldberg added that it was a role she's embraced, and not one she necessarily sought out to begin with. Goldberg shared a bit about the challenges she faces, and what Michael Jordan had to deal with in comparison.
I didn’t particularly want to get out there and do the things I do, but I have the third skin. You have to have a lot of skin because stuff comes at you. And imagine, Michael didn’t even have to deal with Twitter! He didn’t have to deal with black Twitter. He just had to deal with people coming and saying ‘I expected more from you.’ No one has the right to do that. No one has the right to expect you doing more than you are doing.
As Michael Jordan stated in The Last Dance, he was in his position to play basketball. He wasn't saying he didn't have a right to speak out about things, but just because he was in a position of being one of the most famous people on the planet didn't mean he had to weigh in. Whoopi Goldberg agrees with that stance, and while she doesn't have the definitive say on what is and isn't acceptable in celebrity culture, it is interesting to hear the perspective from another celebrity.
The Last Dance is done and won't be on Netflix for a while, but an encore presentation will air on ABC starting Saturday, May 23. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on the best docuseries available, and the latest news happening in television and movies.
