Token non-liberal Elisabeth Hasselbeck reminded Rosie that freedom of speech includes not only the Dixie Chicks but, those who speak out against them. Hasselbeck posed the question "why don’t I have the right not to buy their records and say you shouldn’t either?"
Whoopi Goldberg made a rather inflammatory comparison and Rosie O’Donnell agreed.
Goldberg: "You have a right not to buy their records, but burning them in public brings on 1933."
O’Donnell: "Correct."
Whoopi continued on her anti-burning tangent while Hasselbeck was trying to inject some common sense.
Goldberg: "Nobody has a right to burn it. They can say I don’t like it, I don’t want to hear it."
Hasselbeck: "But it’s theirs. They bought it. They bought the CD. It’s theirs
Goldberg: "Then don’t listen to it."
The transcript is below.
Rosie O’Donnell: "This is way before anything happened to the Dixie Chicks."
Whoopi Goldberg: "Oh way before."
O’Donnell: "Because, honestly, there was and there still is in some capacity sort of a McCarthy era-esque feeling about entertainers speaking out against the government in any capacity."
Elisabeth Hasselbeck: "Why then if you– for instance, I was a huge Dixie Chicks fan. Ok, I love the ‘Cowboy, Take me Away,.’ whatever that song was I used to listen to. I love it, even now I still, I still like it, but I'm not a fan anymore. So why if they, if they have a right to, to speak their mind and say what they want at their concerts that people pay for and don't intend to like go to a political statement or, you know, concert. Alright, ok, so why don't I have a right to not buy their records to say you shouldn’t buy their record either?"
Goldberg: "You have a right not to buy their records, but burning them in public brings on 1933."
O’Donnell: "Correct."
Hasselbeck: "But why is it, why is that not an ok-"
Goldberg: "Let me tell you, let me tell you why. Because in Germany, when they started burning art and they started burning books and they started burning things, when you start burning stuff in public, that is a whole other statement. You can say, you know what? I don't- But they were burning their records. And that’s why- You can say I don't like what they stand for. I don’t like what they did."
Hasselbeck: "What about when women burned their bras? That was a political statement. That was ok."
Joy Behar: "They're burning their own bras. They're not burning your bra."
[Applause]
Hasselbeck: "I’m just saying if you want to say burning, burning. I'm an artist, too. If I say something that's emotionally charged or politically charged and someone burned it-"
Goldberg: "Nobody has the right to burn it. They can say I don't like it, I don't want to hear it."
Hasselbeck: "But it’s theirs they bought it. They bought the CD. It's theirs."
Goldberg: "Then don’t listen to it."
Behar: "There's something symbolic about burning it."
Goldberg: "When you burn it, you take it to another level."
Hasselbeck: "But isn't this just protest in some way?"
Behar: "Think Ku Klux Klan, when they burn the cross."
Hasselbeck: "I'm not ok with that."
Behar: "Well, but I mean it’s the same thing. It’s the burning."
Goldberg: "It’s the burning of the thing. You really want to stay away from it."
[laughter]
Goldberg: "You know, the sheet thing. It’s not good."
Hasselbeck: "I got you there."
Behar: "It’s a complicated thing because we also, a lot of First Amendment people believe you should be able to burn the flag or step on the flag. It's a complicated conversation."
Goldberg: "I don't think burning anything because of the connotation that it has had, everything it has meant through the history of the world."
Hasselbeck: "Well, I mean bottom line is, it's just a fire hazard, so you shouldn’t do it. It’s not ok."
[laughter]
Goldberg: "Now that is a bright way to look at it."
