Sherri Shepherd Blasts Barbara Walters for N-Word Use

Tempers flared on Monday's episode of The View as Sherri Shepherd chastised Barbara Walters for using the N-word in a newsy context.


Whoopi Goldberg used the word first on Monday's broadcast while quoting presidential candidate Herman Cain. Walters repeated it in context of their conversation, though she told her co-hosts, "It's very hard for me to say. … The fact that I just said it now gives me chills."


The co-hosts were discussing the name of a hunting camp used by Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry. But when Walters said the word, she drew a sharp rebuke from Shepherd.


"I didn't like the way you said it," Shepherd told her co-host. "I don't know if it's a semantics thing, but it's something that goes through my body."


Shepherd has said publicly that she's been the victim of racially-motivated bullying.


"When I heard you say it, it was fine," Shepherd told Goldberg. "You said it a different way."


There's a difference between the way you and Whoopi say it," the 44-year-old comedian and actress started, before Walters stopped her and said, "Let me finish."
Though Walters' use of the N-word was only in the context of the discussion and she wasn't using it in an antagonizing way, Shepherd -- who has said publicly that she's been the victim of bullying because of her race -- felt uncomfortable with the way the 82-year-old former news anchor said it.
Walters made a point to say that she was uncomfortable with even speaking the word.
"The fact that (Cain) said it, the fact that I said it gives me chills right now." she said. "We never use that word, and Herman Cain, who by the way will be on with us tomorrow, did."
"I didn't like the way you said it," Shepherd then told Walters. "I don't know if it's a semantics thing, but it's something that goes through my body." But she made a point of saying that she was fine with Whoopi's usage.
"When I heard you say it, it was fine," Shepherd told Goldberg. But then she turned to Walters and said, "You said it a different way."
Not one to go quietly, Walters asked Shepherd if her objection was based on the fact that Barbara is white.
"Yeah, it's something about hearing you say it," Shepherd said. "I don't like it when you use the word... When you say it, it's a different connotation."
Still, Shepherd made it clear that she wasn't attacking Walter's personally. "It's nothing on you, Barbara," she admitted. "I could probably never explain the way I feel."