Whoopi Goldberg was caught by surprise when a woman from the audience heckled her during a live broadcast of “The View.” Goldberg responded to this audience participant causing her cohosts and the network grief.

Whoopi Goldberg had an on-air incident that made it on the radar of the popular show Entertainment Tonight. “Yikes,” the ET host began in their report. “This episode of The View didn’t get off to a smooth start with Whoopi Goldberg clapping back at what seemed to be a heckler in the audience.”

The drama unfolded at the very beginning of the show. All of the hosts came out to take their seats to a “very happy” audience when one particularly enthusiastic member shouted at the Oscar-winning actress, Entertainment Weekly reported.

“We’re happy to see ya’ll. Cool, well, go on and have a seat,” said Goldberg, adding that the audience was “very happy.” She then turned to one female member of the audience to address something she said. It’s important to note live broadcasts like The View strictly frown on their hosts engaging with the audience in a negative way.

“Did you just call me an old broad? Yeah?” asked a visibly stunned Goldberg. As the camera cut to a woman who had a large fur hat on, the Sister Act star stated, “She said, ‘You old broad,’ and I was like, hey, it’s Wednesday, and I am an old broad, and happy about it!”

The cohosts at the table laughed loudly, hoping it would diffuse the situation. Cohost Sunny Hostin tried to intervene by pointing out that being an “old broad” is better than “the alternative,” seemingly referring to dying young. “The alternative is not attractive to any of us,” Goldberg said. “We all want to be old broads and old dudes, you know?”

Many social media users had their own take on Goldberg’s reaction to the heckler amid the scandal of the comedian’s Holocaust remarks. “She should feel lucky to be called an old broad,” one commenter posted. “That would have been way down on the list of what she could be called. Racist would be close to the top. And she use to be so funny in the movies she was in…..so sad.”