Whoopi to-do over smoking character

Anti-smoking advocates are highly critical of Whoopi Goldberg’s new television comedy series Whoopi, in which she plays a chain-smoking innkeeper.

The actress-comedienne smokes in three scenes during the 22-minute pilot episode, prompting the Reverend Jesse Brown, executive director of African Americans for Positive Imagery to comment: “We don’t need to see the tobacco companies’ messages reinforced by Whoopi or anyone else on television.”

Melissa Howard of the Centre For Disease Control and Prevention’s entertainment initiative on smoking and health, said: “Whenever you see a cigarette used as a prop, kids pick up on that. Children don’t understand the nuances or see the humour that adults do.”

Goldberg’s new series is designed to be a commentary on American society and takes a swipe at everything from racism, fears about terrorism and Arab-American stereotypes to President Bush’s mispronunciations.

“It’s extraordinary when you have an interracial couple in the show and the thing that people are freaking about is that I’m smoking,” Goldberg told the Los Angeles Times. “I love it.

“People do still smoke and people do still drink and this character does. She’s not perfect.”