Whoopi Goldberg Tells Ben Carson to 'Watch Roots!' During 'View' Debate Over His Slave-Immigrant Gaffe (Video)

While speaking to the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday, the new HUD Secretary made headlines for saying, "There were other immigrants who came here on the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less."

"Maybe we need to get him a history book," a shocked Whoopi Goldberg said. "Were the slaves really thinking about the American dream? No, they were thinking, 'What the hell just happened?!'"

"Slavery ... I'm making jokes about it because I can't believe ... am I crazy?" she said.

Conservative panelist Jedediah Bila stood up for Carson, saying he's a "really nice guy, a good-hearted guy," but admitted he "needs to think before he speaks."

"When you have moments like this, but the time you get the chance to make the correction, you've insulted people, you've hurt people, you've lost people and it's really really unfortunate," she added.

Co-panelist Sunny Hostin also tried to defend Carson, who mentored her husband at Johns Hopkins.

"I can tell you he feels very deeply about the African American community," she said. "He held dinner for the African American residents at Johns Hopkins hospital every single year and we looked forward to it because ..."

"I have black friends too!" Goldberg interrupted.

"Don't we all have that friend, they mean well and they say things and you go, 'Ohhh," Hostin continued. "That's who he is though. That's just Ben, he's one of those smart people that is extremely socially awkward. I would be more concerned if I didn't know him well."

"How does he miss what slavery is? How does he miss that no slave came to this country willingly? How does this get missed by this wonderful man?" a passionate Whoopi interjected. "I'm sorry, Ben, 'Roots.' Watch 'Roots.'"

Goldberg expressed a similar sentiment on Twitter yesterday. See hers and more celebrity reactions to Carson's speech below.