Whoopi Goldberg Branded 'Pathetic' by Piers Morgan Over Trump Spit Move

Piers Morgan branded Whoopi Goldberg "pathetic" for pretending to spit after mistakenly saying Donald Trump's name during a discussion on The View.

Goldberg, who has publicly criticized Trump on a number of occasions over the years, has taken to referring to him as "You-Know-Who" when talking about the former president with her fellow panelists on the ABC daytime show.

However, her form slipped during Tuesday's installment of The View as she spoke about the upcoming presidential debate, during which presumptive Republican candidate Trump will face off against President Joe Biden.

"I think it would be remiss of us to not say, Joe Biden knows how to do this," Oscar winner Goldberg said. "He knows how to do this, he's quite good at this. You can't refute anything with him—when I say him, I mean..."

After Goldberg trailed off, co-host Joy Behar said: "Trump," prompting the Ghost star to also say: "Trump."

"Ugh," Goldberg exclaimed, before taking a mid-sentence pause as she pretended to spit on the stage.

"Did you say his name?" Sunny Hostin, another co-host, asked, to which Goldberg jokingly responded: "I said his name. It was a trick, and it made me do it."

While the moment was applauded by the studio audience, British TV personality Morgan expressed his distaste for Goldberg's gesture.

Reacting to a clip of the moment that was shared on X, formerly Twitter, Morgan, who won the 2008 edition of Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, wrote: "So pathetic."

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Goldberg via email for comment.

Goldberg did intentionally say Trump's name on May 31, when she made a special appearance on the show to discuss the former president's recent criminal conviction.

After noting that she was on The View on a Friday—a day she normally takes off from the show—Goldberg said: "I'm going to say something you've never ever heard me say before: Donald John Trump is a convicted felon."

She further said that Trump should have to spend time in jail for his crimes. Trump's sentencing is on July 11.

"We're going to treat this man, who used to be president, like everybody else," Goldberg said. "You're convicted of felonies. You've got to do a little bit of time."

Trump was found guilty on May 30 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment. The former president was accused of arranging shortly before the 2016 election for his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she alleges she had with Trump.

The money was listed in the Trump Organization's records as "legal fees," which prosecutors said was part of an unlawful attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 race. Trump had admitted to reimbursing Cohen for the Daniels payment but denied all wrongdoing, saying the criminal trial was part of a political witch hunt aimed at derailing his White House bid. He also denied Daniels' allegation about the encounter.

For his part, Trump has also directed criticism at Goldberg, recently stating in a social media post that Canada "doesn't want" the star in response to a doctored meme that erroneously portrayed her as saying she would leave the U.S. if he was reelected.