Fox News anchor Julie Banderas has come under fire after making controversial remarks about Whoopi Goldberg’s experience as a mother during a recent broadcast. The segment, which quickly went viral, saw Banderas mock Goldberg’s parenting in a tone many viewers described as dismissive and deeply disrespectful. The comments, seen by critics as a personal and uncalled-for attack, have sparked immediate backlash across social media platforms, with fans, fellow journalists, and public figures calling the jab inappropriate and offensive. Supporters of Goldberg are demanding an apology, arguing that motherhood should never be weaponised in political or ideological debates, especially on national television. As tensions flare and the backlash grows louder, Fox News has yet to issue a formal response — leaving viewers wondering if the network will address the escalating controversy or continue to stand by its host.

Goldberg was “incredibly insulted” by the remark.(Image: Getty Images for LOVE ROCKS NYC/)
Fox News anchor Julie Banderas stirred controversy Wednesday after making a crude jab at Whoopi Goldberg, dismissively questioning the longtime actress and host’s ability to find someone to “physically impregnate her.”

The remarks came during an episode of Outnumbered, after a segment criticizing the Joe Biden administration’s proposed baby bonus plan, a $5,000 incentive aimed at encouraging more childbirths. Goldberg had blasted the initiative during The View, calling it out of touch with women’s realities.

“I am incredibly insulted by this because clearly they don’t know how women’s bodies work,” said Goldberg during Tuesday’s episode. “I don’t know what $5,000 is supposed to do.”

The Fox panel played the clip and responded with sarcasm. “She’s such a lovely person,” quipped Kayleigh McEnany, to which Banderas replied, “Isn’t she lovely? Such a shame she’s not a mother. I feel like she would have been the best role model.”

Fox News anchor Julie Banderas has taken a brutal jab at Whoopi Goldberg.

Banderas then took it a step further. “Thank God she did not do IVF, because I don’t think she’d find somebody to actually physically impregnate her, is what I’m trying to get at there,” she added.

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While her co-hosts chuckled awkwardly, none corrected the false implication. In reality, Goldberg is a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She had her daughter, Alexandrea Martin, in 1974, and has since welcomed three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

After backlash online, Banderas attempted to walk back her remarks. “Obviously I’m kidding about Whoopi Goldberg,” she said later in the show. “I think it would be great if she had a child, I would just hope that maybe she would raise her children a little better.”

She then acknowledged Goldberg does have a daughter, but added: “I don’t know. We don’t know much about that person.”

The segment aired the same week the White House unveiled a controversial new plan to tackle falling birth rates. Among the ideas are cash bonuses for new mothers, reserving 30% of Fulbright scholarships for parents and married applicants, and launching menstrual education initiatives aimed at increasing fertility awareness.

Former President Donald Trump, who supports the plan, has called himself the “fertilization president.” Vice President J.D. Vance labeled the birth rate decline a “civilizational crisis,” while billionaire Elon Musk, father to 14 children, has said only “the childless have little stake in the future.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a father of nine, has even proposed giving priority in funding to communities with higher marriage and birth rates.

Critics, including Goldberg, say the plan reduces women to reproductive tools. “We are not machines,” she said. “And $5,000 isn’t going to make someone ready to be a parent.”