Whoopi reacts to Slim-Fast axing

Whoopi Goldberg has defended her choice to attack US president George W Bush which led to her being dropped as a spokeswoman for diet aid company Slim-Fast.

Bosses at Slim-Fast dropped the star from their ad campaign, after admitting they were disappointed in her remarks at last Thursday's star-studded fundraiser for presidential hopeful John Kerry at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Goldberg caused offence at the event, when, according to the New York Post she "fired off a stream of vulgar sexual wordplays on Bush's name in a riff about female genitalia".

An unrepentant Goldberg hit back in a written statement. "Just because I'm no longer in those (commercial) 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."

"I only wish that the Republican re-election committee would spend as much time working on the economy as they seem to be spending trying to harm my pocketbook."