Did the Golden Globes "ethics board" cancel prominent actress Whoopi Goldberg's Lifetime Achievement Award? No, that's not true: This story originated from a self-described satirical website aimed at trolling conservatives. No corporate statement or credible independent reporting supports the claim.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by The Dunning-Kruger Times on January 10, 2023, with the headline "Golden Globe Ethics Board Cancels Whoopi Goldberg's Lifetime Achievement Award." It opened:
Whoopi Goldberg was supposed to get a 'Lifetime Achievement Award' from the Golden Globes, but it was canceled.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
(Source: The Dunning-Kruger Times screenshot taken on Wed May 24 15:38:26 2023 UTC)
The article quoted "Joe Barron, Goldberg's publicist." Barron is not Goldberg's publicist. He was a friend of Christopher Blair, the founder of The Dunning-Kruger Times. His name is frequently used in Blair's satirical stories as an homage.
As of this writing, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website lists the Full Coverage Communications company as Goldberg's publicist team.
A Google News search using the keywords "Golden Globe Ethics Board Cancels Whoopi Goldberg's Lifetime Achievement Award" produced no credible independent reports supporting the claim. If Goldberg had had an award rescinded by the Golden Globe Awards, it would have been deemed a significant news event with widespread coverage.
A Twitter search and a Golden Globes website search did not produce any results or press releases that confirm the claim.
Lead Stories has debunked similar claims about Whoopi Goldberg and controversies that call for her "cancellation," which can be read here.
The Dunning-Kruger Times
The Dunning-Kruger Times is a satirical website with an About Us page (archived here) that has following disclaimer:
About Us
Dunning-Kruger-Times.com is a subsidiary of the 'America's Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with 'comedy':
sat·ire ˈsaˌtī(ə)r noun: The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
The website is named after the Dunning-Kruger effect, a term from a psychology experiment that describes the phenomenon of being ignorant of one's own ignorance. (That experiment has been disputed by a math professor.)
It is run by self-described liberal troll Christopher Blair.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims by The Dunning-Kruger Times can be read here.
