Goldberg didn’t avoid the topic. In fact, she brought it up herself.
“In the name of transparency,” she told viewers, “my name is in the files.”
According to Goldberg, the mention comes from an old email exchange between disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and a third party whose name has been redacted. The email discussed trying to arrange a private plane to fly Goldberg to Monaco for a charity event hosted by Julian Lennon’s White Feather Foundation.
Reading from the email on air, Goldberg explained that it said: “Whoopi needs a plane to get to Monaco… Julian Lennon’s charity is paying for it. They don’t want to charter so they’re looking for private owners. Here’s the info. Do you want to offer your G2?”
Her co-host Sunny Hostin pointed out that Epstein declined the request in a follow-up message. In other words, the flight never happened.
Goldberg made it clear she had no personal relationship with Epstein.
“I wasn’t his girlfriend. I wasn’t his friend,” she said. “People are trying to turn me into something I’m not.”
She also stressed that she never flew on Epstein’s plane — and for a very personal reason.
“She doesn’t fly,” co-host Sara Haines chimed in, joking that Goldberg prefers buses. Goldberg has long spoken publicly about her fear of flying, making the idea of her boarding a private jet highly unlikely.
Co-host Joy Behar used the moment to raise a broader point: if names appear in documents simply because of emails, news articles, or third-party mentions, then being “in the files” doesn’t automatically mean wrongdoing.
That idea was echoed by Haines, who said that famous and wealthy people often cross paths in professional or social settings. A name appearing in documents, she said, doesn’t tell the full story.
What does matter, she added, is accountability.
“No one should be above scrutiny,” Haines said. “No amount of status should soften abuse.”
Goldberg isn’t the only public figure responding to being mentioned in the massive document release by the Department of Justice earlier this year. Comedian and The Daily Show host Jon Stewart also reacted after learning his name appeared in an email chain between Epstein and producer Barry Josephson. In that exchange, Josephson floated the idea that “someone like Jon Stewart” could narrate a potential project.
Stewart joked about it on air, mock-offended. “Somebody like Jon Stewart, or Jon Stewart?” he quipped.
The renewed attention comes as millions of additional documents tied to Epstein have been made public. The files contain a mix of contact information, email chains, references to public figures, and other materials gathered during investigations.
For Goldberg, the takeaway is simple: context matters.
“People actually believe that I was with him,” she said. “You used to have to have facts before you said stuff.”
As more names circulate online, many public figures are now finding themselves in the position Goldberg described — explaining that being mentioned in a document is not the same as being involved in wrongdoing.
And for Goldberg, at least, there’s one detail she says makes the rumor especially easy to dismiss: she never even got on the plane.
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