Staten Island leaders are calling for an apology from Whoopi Goldberg after she falsely claimed that a local bakery refused to serve her sweets because of her left-wing politics. The family-run Holtermann’s Bakery, which has been a staple on Staten Island for 145 years, was overwhelmed with orders after Goldberg’s controversial remarks.
The “View” co-host ignited outrage earlier this week when she alleged that the well-loved bakery declined to make her a batch of Charlotte Russe desserts due to her political views.
“Recently someone took to the national airwaves and defamed, frankly, this family business,” borough president Vito Fossella said during a news conference outside the bakery on Friday, the New York Post reported.
“We’re here to stand up for one of the best families and businesses, not just in Staten Island but in the country,” Fossella continued. “Frankly, the people who defamed the Holtermann family should apologize … for making stuff up to suit their needs. Not everybody wakes up every day and thinks about politics.”
The bakery has maintained that the issue was due to mechanical problems with their 60-year-old boiler when Goldberg first attempted to place the order on November 13 for her 69th birthday celebration on-air. They emphasized that her political beliefs had no bearing on what happened.
In the wake of Goldberg’s disparaging remarks, owner Jill Holtermann said the bakery has been inundated with orders from across the country, The Post noted.
“I really am overwhelmed,” Holtermann told The Post. “I’m so happy to have the support. Just to have people come out and talk and build up my business.”
The owner mentioned receiving calls from Alabama and Tennessee to donate baked goods to local schools and first responders in an effort to boost business.
“We had one today that’s donating $150 worth of donuts,” Holtermann said, noting that those treats were sent over to St. Peter’s Boys’ High School for a football game.
“Somebody else called up and donated a sheet cake — it went to a firehouse. The other one was cupcakes, they went to PS [Public School] 37,” she said.
A continuous line of customers surrounded the bakery on Thursday and Friday as people gathered to support the business, the outlet noted further.
“Judging by the line today, I think the one simple message is: You don’t mess with Staten Island,” Fossella said.
The controversy began when Goldberg criticized the bakery during Wednesday’s broadcast.
“Now, I should tell you, Charlotte Russe has no political leanings, and the place that made these refused to make them for me,” the liberal-leaning host alleged to her audience, without divulging the name of the bakery.
“They said that their ovens had gone down, all kinds of stuff, but folks went and got them anyway, which is why I’m not telling you who made them,” Goldberg continued, claiming further: “They did not like my politics.”
Goldberg and her co-hosts on “The View” have been in a state of turmoil ever since Donald Trump won the election. The leftist co-host has consistently expressed her disdain for Trump, even going so far as to refuse to say his name on air for years, The Post noted.
During a show segment a week before the election, Goldberg suggested — and co-host Ana Navarro appeared to concur — that Trump would target interracial marriages under the guise of enforcing immigration laws.
“He’s not going to, you know, say ‘Oh, you’re with a white guy. I’m going to keep you from being deported.’ No. He’s going to deport and put the white guy with someone else!” Goldberg claimed.
Trump has never suggested anything like what Goldberg and her fellow co-hosts claimed, but he has repeatedly said he favors mass deportations of people in the country illegally and would return to his stringent enforcement of existing immigration laws.
