Whoopi loses ad deal over Bush gags

Whoopi Goldberg has been dropped from a Slim-Fast advertising campaign after making jokes at George Bush’s expense.

The company, an arm of the Anglo-Dutch Unilever giant, said her remarks offended customers.

And they said they were "disappointed" in Goldberg's remarks at a £4 million fundraiser for Bush’s Democrat opponent John Kerry.

At the New York event last week, the comic made what has been described as “a stream of vulgar sexual wordplays on Bush's name in a riff about female genitalia”.

Right-wing campaigners immediately started an e-mail campaign to try to force Slim-Fast to drop Goldberg from their TV campaign.

And yesterday, they succeeded with Slim-Fast general manager Terry Olson issuing a statement saying: “Ads featuring Ms. Goldberg will no longer be on the air.”

Later Goldberg said: "Just because I'm no longer in those spots, it doesn't mean I will stop talking. While I can appreciate what the Slim-Fast people need to do in order to protect their business, I must also do what I need to do as an artist, as a writer and as an American - not to mention as a comic."

Published: 15 Jul 2004