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Whoopi Goldberg is in hot water on social media. The longtime comedian and co-host of The View is, for some reason, taking the brunt of Republican rage after daring to discuss Elon Musk‘s son and his recent appearance at a White House press conference. The four-year-old X Æ A-Xii wiggled around anxiously, wiping boogers on the Resolute Desk and waiting for the excruciating boredom to end, while his father finished a speech about unelected leaders that was so ironic that at least one writer for The Onion ate their pen.
In the wake of the visit, half of the media is gushing about how great of a father Musk is for toting his tot around with him, while the other half wonders how a man who isn’t president was allowed to speak to the American people from the Oval Office. Meanwhile, conservatives are flexing their performative outrage, and unsurprisingly, they’ve picked Goldberg as a target.
Wow… Whoopi just spent multiple minutes making fun of Elon Musk’s son’s name.
Your name is literally WHOOPI.
pic.twitter.com/wBRRG6lfQw— Jack (@jackunheard) February 12, 2025
Though the clip is only a minute long, thousands of commenters have joined the conversation bashing Goldberg. The comedian starts the discussion saying, “So yesterday, Elon Musk took his son X to a press conference.”
“X,” co-host Joy Behar queries. “I did not name the child, and I don’t want to hear any more mess about our names, okay?” Goldberg asserts. X Æ A-Xii (pronounced “ex-ash-ay-twelve”) is Musk’s seventh child, and his first child with Canadian singer Grimes. The couple went on to have two more kids, Exa Dark Sideræl, and Techno Machanicus, before splitting in 2022.
Attempting to move on, Goldberg plows ahead, “Anyway, he took little X,” cutting her off, Behar adds, “and little Instagram,” to laughter from the audience. The co-hosts remind Behar that Instagram isn’t owned by Musk before Goldberg continues the section.
Immediately, Musk’s social media app, X.com erupted into fury. “Picking on a child. She’s evil,” one wrote. “The same people who cry about ‘bullying’ have no problem doing it themselves,” another wailed. “Pure trash,” added another.
By far the biggest concern was, “How in the hell is a woman named ‘Whoopi’ in a position to criticise a child named X?”
Goldberg’s given name is Caryn Elaine Johnson. The comedian has proudly joked that her stage name comes from the classic comedic Whoopee cushion, and that when on stage there is little time for bathroom breaks, so “when you get a little gassy, you’ve got to let it go.” She adopted Goldberg to honor her Jewish ancestry, saying, “Goldberg is my name—it’s part of my family, part of my heritage, just like being Black,” though she later discovered that her family history had been distorted.
X’s mother, Grimes, has been vocal about how much the stunt frustrated her. Since their split, the pair have been in a fierce custody battle, and Grimes has said she has been barred from seeing her son for nearly 6 months. The singer didn’t tune into the press conference herself, but was beyond frustrated to know her young son was in the public eye.
Musk has toted X along to a number of appearances since he ingrained himself in politics, and his frequent appearances have led social media users to speculate that Musk is using his son as a deterrent for would-be assassins, or that he is only a prop for photo ops. Others assume that the frequent appearances are a form of taunting toward Grimes, like an abuser lashing out against his former victim.