An interview between The View veteran host Whoopi Goldberg and Twitter, SpaceX and Tesla chief Elon Musk turned up a lot of unexpected results.
Maybe a heated debate on space colonization, or a mutual conversation on electric vehicles. What the world didn’t expect was actually a faceplant. And oh, the memes that followed!
The day started like any regular episode of The View. Whoopi, in her typical beauty, has been teasing the much-anticipated meeting with Elon all week. The setting was perfect: a minimalist, modern stage that subtly hinted at Musk’s futuristic leanings, and the audience was buzzing with excitement.
Elon, no stranger to the media spotlight, entered with his own unique blend of strange charisma. Apparently, the entrepreneur was there to discuss Twitter’s policies and the latest updates on the ongoing Mars colonization project. However, as history shows, the agenda that day was different.
As Musk began to explain the “seriousness” of the situation on Mars, Whoopi, always dramatic, decided to emphasize his point by leaning on her desk. Maybe it was the talk about Mars, or maybe her chair had been replaced by Musk’s prototype anti-gravity device, but the unthinkable happened – Whoopi’s calculated detour completely backfired.
Now, any other celebrity would have screamed, cried, or run away from the stage. But Whoopi, always the professional, tried to turn it into acrobatics. Result? OK, let’s just say gymnastics can’t be her fallback career.
If you thought Musk’s reactions to changes in the stock market were unpredictable, you should have seen his face this time. For a moment it seemed as if time had stopped. Then, the tech mogul did what he does best — casually quipping, “Looks like we haven’t solved the Earth’s gravity issue yet!”
After making sure Whoopi was okay, the audience started laughing. The show was to be adapted into a commercial, but the viral moment had already been immortalized.
Within minutes, Twitter, despite being Twitter, exploded. Memes flooded in with #WhoopiGoesZeroG trending at lightning speed. One user blamed the Martian landscape for Whoopi’s fall and captioned it, “Whoopi is testing the Martian terrain for Alone!” Another showed him falling with a SpaceX rocket, racing to see who would land first.
The “Whoopi Challenge” was soon born, where users would recreate their own version of the iconic fall. The challenge went viral, with celebrities and netizens taking part in good humor, ensuring that the event will remain etched in pop culture history.
When The View returned from commercial break, Whoopi had regained her composure (and her chair). During the game, he quipped, “Well, what a way to get headlines!”
Musk took advantage of the opportunity to offer to design a special, ‘fall-proof’ chair for him. “Maybe with some SpaceX thrusters to keep you steady on the ground,” he said with a laugh.
The rest of the interview went off without any interruptions. Musk and Goldberg had an in-depth discussion about technology, society, and, of course, the viral potential of unplanned TV moments.
After the episode, Elon tweeted a slow-motion video of the fall accompanied by heart-touching music and the caption, “To the indomitable spirit of @WhoopiGoldberg. Only the fall lifts us up. #Respect.” In a display of her indomitable spirit, Whoopi retweeted, “Well I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut!”
In a heartwarming twist, Musk announced that the proceeds from the viral video’s advertising revenue would go to a charity of Whoopi’s choice.
Although the incident was unexpected, it demonstrated the resilience of two of the world’s most recognizable faces. As for Whoopi, her downfall on The View translated into viral fame. As for Musk, he once again proved that his awareness goes beyond just the world of technology.
In the end, this hilarious mishap reminds us all of the unpredictability of live television and the beauty of real, unscripted moments. So, here’s to more interviews, more memes and hopefully less faceplants!