Earlier this week on The View, Whoopi brought up the show and actually called it the "beginning of the downfall of society."
And while Whoopi has every right to feel that way about a televised singing competition, it probably wasn't a great idea to bring it up on ABC — the network where American Idol airs.
She even got The View's executive producer Brian Teta in on the conversation...and he awkwardly had to try and stop her.
"We, as a society, love to watch stuff to judge folks," she said. "I've always thought that the beginning of the downfall of society was with...what's the name of that show?"
Brian chimed in to remind Whoopi that the show she was thinking of was American Idol AND that it was on ABC.
"It was not always on ABC. When it began, it was on another network," Whoopi retorted, referencing the show's run on FOX from 2002 to 2016.
She continued, "I'm gonna tell you why. Once we gave people the ability to judge other people, I think we ran amok with it and it's gone out of control... They invited the public to decide who that person was."
I feel like at this point Brian must have been completely freaking out off camera because something he did finally caught Whoopi's eye — and she suddenly stopped.
"Did you really just do that?" Whoopi asked Brian, seemingly referring to whatever he did off-camera.
"The thing is, we've talked about this, it's gotten better, you like it now, remember?" Brian awkwardly prompted her.
The ladies broke out into laughter while trying to cover Whoopi's tracks, telling ABC that Whoopi was definitely a fan of the show.
Whoopi seemed to have gotten the message too, explaining that Idol has become a "different show" since joining the ABC lineup.
"The judges are different," she said. "When it first began, It was a very different...and ABC knows that I feel like this. I've told them, it's got nothing to do with them."
TBD if ABC feels like it has "nothing to do with them" — but I think we can all assume Whoopi won't be talking about American Idol anymore!
