Whoopi Goldberg: ‘It’s none of your business …’

From ABC News (with video of discussion on ABC’s The View):

John Travolta’s first public acknowledgement that his son had autism and a seizure disorder has drawn mixed reactions within the autism community, with some offering support and others criticizing him for not speaking out sooner.

Travolta’s statement came during court testimony last week in the trial of two people who are charged with attempting to blackmail him.

Said Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association,

“…  I’ve read some things that really bother me — basically that they should have come forward sooner, said Fournier. “Everybody handles autism in the best way that they can and for whatever personal reasons they had, they chose not to make it public.

“Just because you have a child with autism and you’re a celebrity, it does not automatically mandate you to be a spokesperson for the disorder,” she said. “I feel bad for them, I really truly do.”

Speaking on The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg said celebrities are under no obligation to become advocates for causes like autism. “This is not the way to get people to come out and say, you know, I’m going to take a stand,” she said. “It’s none of your business until somebody wants to make it your business.”

See also: National Autism Association maintains support of Travoltas despite Whoopi Goldberg’s mistaken comments — press release

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 10:18 am and is filed under advocacy, autism, celebrities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.