Whoopi Goldberg calls Lindsey Graham ‘ignorant as hell’ over Herschel Walker race comments

Senator said the fact that Republican candidate is Black proves the GOP isn’t racist

Whoopi Goldberg said Senator Lindsey Graham was “ignorant as hell” for saying the fact that Georgia candidate Herschel Walker was Black proved that the Republican party was not racist.

It is the latest controversy for Mr Walker amid accusations he paid for multiple abortions for two former partners despite now presenting himself as a hardline anti-abortionist.

Mr Graham told Sean Hannity: “He (Walker) changes the entire narrative of the left. We're a party of racists, Sean – me and you are racists. The Republican Party is racist. Well, what happens when the Republican Party elects and nominates Herschel Walker, an African-American, Black Heisman Trophy winner, right? Olympian. It destroys the whole narrative."

He added that Mr Walker’s candidacy meant that “maybe every other young child in America of colour might want to be a Republican”.

Lindsey Graham, right, campaigning with Herschel Walker (AP)

Goldberg hit back on Thursday’s edition of The View, saying: “Here's the thing you need to know, Lindsey – just because we see a Black person, doesn't mean we do monkey see, monkey do.

"And I'm sure that you don't know how insulting that is, but let us just say to you, don't ever say that again because you look ignorant as hell. Don't do that.”

On Wednesday, a woman accused Mr Walker, a former football star, of pressuring her to have an abortion in 1993 during an extra-marital relationship.

“I am not a coward but I am a realist,” the woman, who has sought to keep her identity confidential, said at a press conference in Los Angeles. “And I choose to protect my identity to protect those I love. Herschel Walker is a hypocrite and he is not fit to be a US senator.”

“We do not need people in the US Senate who profess one thing and do another,” she added.

The woman’s attorney, high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred, claims cards, photos, receipts, and a voicemail all back up the allegation.

That same day, Mr Walker denied the allegation, as he did an allegation from a separate woman who said the US Senate candidate paid for her abortion in 2009.

“I’m done with this foolishness,” the Georgia candidate told reporters on Wednesday. “I’ve already told people this is a lie. I’m not going to entertain, to continue to carry a lie along, and I also want to let you know I didn’t kill JFK either.”

Mr Graham, who was in the Peach State to support his fellow Republican, looked on and chuckled at the comment.

“I’ve seen this movie,” the South Carolina senator then said, referring to the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“People here are not going to tolerate it. There’s going to be a backlash in Georgia. This is coming from LA. It’s coming from an activist Democratic celebrity lawyer who went to the 2016 convention for Hillary Clinton, and people in Georgia are not this dumb.”

The remarks prompted angry responses from critics online.

Liberal journalist Aaron Rupar called Mr Graham’s comments “as clear an illustration you’ll see of Lindsey Graham standing for nothing more than power.”

“Graham threatens prison for women who get abortions while PROMOTING a man who paid for several abortions,” one commenter wrote on Twitter. “Lindsey Graham is showing us what Republicans desire is [to] CRIMINALIZE and CONTROL WOMEN while the rapists go free!!”

The Independent has contacted the senator’s office for comment.

Others online highlighted Mr Graham’s efforts to avoid testifying in a Georgia probe into whether Donald Trump and his allies improperly tried to subvert the 2020 election results.

“You can go to Georgia to campaign for a brain dead, hypocritical candidate but you can’t go to Georgia to testify?” Twitter user Michael Frehley wrote.

Earlier this week, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas temporarily blocked Senator Graham from having to testify in Georgia, after the Republican had asked the high court to block a subpoena for his phone records.

Mr Graham has argued he’s immune to such questioning, a claim lower federal courts have rejected.