Whoopi Goldberg slams Bill Maher for 'flippant' COVID-19 comments: 'How dare you'

Whoopi Goldberg isn't laughing about Bill Maher's recent COVID-19 jokes. 

Goldberg on Monday's The View slammed the Real Time with Bill Maher host in response to a recent monologue in which he mocked COVID-19 precautions. 

"I don't want to live in your paranoid world anymore, your masked, paranoid world," Maher said. "You know, you go out [and] it's silly now. You have to have a mask, you have to have a card, you have to have a booster, they scan your head like you're a cashier and I'm a bunch of bananas. I'm not bananas, you are!" 

Goldberg wasn't amused, shooting back on The View, "That's not really funny to people who have lost their kids to this [virus] or people who have lost family members or dear friends to this."

Goldberg went on to say that "nobody" wants to go through the pandemic but that those who refuse to follow health precautions should "stay away from everybody," adding that it's important to protect those who can't yet get vaccinated against COVID-19. "How dare you be so flippant, man?" Goldberg said to Maher. 

The View co-host Sara Haines during the suggestion also suggested some pandemic precautions like masks could become part of a new normal going forward. "I may never go indoors to big crowds and ever feel comfortable without a mask," she said. 

In a recent interview with Deadline, Maher said he's "over COVID," adding, "I was never scared of it. I was always scared of the reaction to it, and as this has played out that only proved to be more true for me." His season premiere featured a viral interview with former New York Times writer Bari Weiss, who like Maher said she's "done with COVID." MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan slammed the comments, arguing, "My young children have handled this pandemic more maturely and less childishly than the likes of Bari Weiss."