Whoopi Goldberg slams Debra Messing and compares public shaming of Trump donors to McCarthyism

• "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg slammed actress Debra Messing for wanting to publicize a list of attendees to a fundraiser for President Donald Trump, comparing it to McCarthyism.
• Messing tweeted on Friday, "please print a list of all attendees please. The public has a right to know," in response to a story detailing a planned Trump fundraiser in Beverly Hills.
• "In this country, people can vote for who they want to. That is one of the great rights of this country ... we don't go after people because we don't like who they voted for," Goldberg said.
• Last month, Rep. Joaquin Castro was heavily criticized for tweeting out a list of prominent individuals and business owners who donated large amounts to Trump in the San Antonio area.
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"The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg slammed actress Debra Messing for wanting to publicize a list of attendees to a fundraiser for President Donald Trump, comparing it to McCarthyism.

Messing, who is vocally progressive and anti-Trump, tweeted on Friday, "please print a list of all attendees please. The public has a right to know," in response to a story from The Hollywood Reporter detailing a planned $100,000 per person fundraiser Trump's campaign plans to host in Beverly Hills on September 17.

On Tuesday's episode of "The View," Goldberg and fellow co-host Joy Behar sharply criticized Messing and her "Will & Grace" co-star Eric McCormack for encouraging the outlet to print the names of the attendees.

"I happen to be against that kind of thing," Behar said. "I do believe you should know if a company gave a lot of money to Trump. Some of the names of these companies are going around on Facebook. But when it's individuals, you're stalking and starting to endanger that person's life."

Read more: The stars of 'Will & Grace' are being called 'fascists' for suggesting a list of attendees to a Hollywood Trump fundraiser should be made public

As co-host Sunny Hostin noted, however, the names, occupations/employers, and zip codes of everyone who donates more than $200 to a candidate for federal office are already publicly available in online Federal Election Commission records.

"Listen, the last time people did this, people ended up killing themselves," Goldberg said. "Your idea of who you don't want to work with is your personal business. But don't encourage people to print out lists, because when the next list comes out, your name will be on it, and people will be coming after you."

She added, "we had something called a blacklist, and a lot of really good people were accused of stuff. Nobody cared whether it was true or not. And they lost their right to work. In this country, people can vote for who they want to. That is one of the great rights of this country ... we don't go after people because we don't like who they voted for. We don't print out lists."

Goldberg was referring to the famous 1950s blacklist of suspected communists during Sen. Joseph McCarthy's "Red Scare." Senate investigations falsely accused hundreds of government workers throughout the federal bureaucracy of being communists and agents of the Soviet Union.

Messing responded to the criticism by doubling down and defending her previous tweets.

"I am proud to be a donor when I contribute to a campaign. I am happy to be listed when I attend a fundraiser. I am assuming anyone who donates to Trump's fundraiser would feel the same. Why wouldn't they?," Messing tweeted on Sunday.

She later shared a link to a Splinter article directing people on how to use FEC records to find Trump donors in their area.

Read more: Joaquin Castro was called 'dangerous' by Republicans for tweeting the names of Trump donors, but Democrats say people should be able to follow the money

Trump himself couldn't help but get in a jab at Messing over the weekend, tweeting, "I have not forgotten that when it was announced that I was going to do The Apprentice, and when it then became a big hit, helping NBC's failed lineup greatly, [Messing] came up to me at an Upfront & profusely thanked me, even calling me 'Sir.' How times have changed!"

Last month, Rep. Joaquin Castro was heavily criticized for tweeting out a list of prominent individuals and business owners who donated large amounts to Trump in the San Antonio, Texas area.

While Castro argued that the information was already in the public record and available online, his critics charged that he was subjecting the donors to possible harassment and stalking by further publicizing their names.