Whoopi Denies Hitting White House Party Crasher

When infamous White House state dinner crasher Michaele Salahi joined her Real Housewives of D.C. castmates on The View, the newly minted realty star was rattled after she said co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who was offstage for the segment, walked on the set, touched her arm and tried to refocus the topic to her crashing of the White House state dinner last November. According to a statement on ABC’s website, Salahi told the show’s producers that Goldberg “hit” her.

Backstage after the segment, Salahi, who felt inappropriately scrutinized during the interview said, “When I got off stage I was fine, but then I began to cry. Whoopi came in and said, ‘Did you [expletive] say that I hit you?’” Afterwards Michaele’s husband, Tareq, intervened, and demanded an apology from Goldberg, who claims he took out his phone and began taking pictures of her.

Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck read a statement on air from Salahi’s attorney reiterating that no charges were levied after the alleged White House crashing incident, and Salahi says she doesn’t understand where all the purported hostility came from on the set of The View. “Whoopi, I don’t know you. I never saw Sister Act,” she said. “I don’t know much about her. The fact that I have had no encounters with her except this hostility, I don’t know where it’s coming from. It’s just another really painful learning lesson.” –ANDREW BANKIN