Whoopi Goldberg Defends Flying Private as 'The View' Heats Up Over Climate Change

Whoopi Goldberg had to defend her carbon footprint on "The View" on Wednesday morning, as the panel blew up over the White House pushing back on the administration's climate change report.

On Tuesday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the report -- which detailed the potential longterm damage caused by shifting weather patterns and global warming -- was "the most extreme version" of events and "not based on facts." That didn't sit well with most of the panel.

"This is the most aggravating topic of all because it affects everybody," said Joy Behar. "I think these people would rather have a billion dollars in the bank than breathe. I really do, they'd rather have money than breathe."

Meghan McCain used the opportunity to call out the "hypocrisy" of the left. "Do you think Al Gore would rather have $100 million in the bank than breathe?" she asked, referring to Gore's sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera, a company heavily funded by Qatar, which makes most of its money from oil and gas. She also brought up Leonardo DiCaprio, who often speaks out about climate change but has been known to fly on private planes.

"Is Leo DiCaprio in office?" asked Joy. "He's huge in climate change," McCain clapped back, "You want to change hearts and minds, stop lecturing Americans!"

This is when Whoopi -- someone who is terrified of flying -- stepped in, defending her choice to fly private.

"I do take private planes, I don't want to lie, because I don't wanna be on a plane where I gotta talk to a million people when I have to get where I'm going," she explained. "So there are some things that I am going to be guilty of, because I do not -- contrary to popular belief -- I do not walk on water."

She then called out the current administration for "dismantling things that have been put in place, that were working," saying "that's the biggest bitch more than whether Leo did it, or I did it, Kanye..."

Sunny Hostin agreed, adding, "Climate change is not a left or a right issue. I have kids that are inheriting shorter winters, longer summers, they're not going to be able to breathe, the water is heating up. That's what we need to be talking about, not that Al Gore sold something or Leo, this is about climate change."

As the audience applauded Hostin, McCain interrupted. "That's so ridiculous," she said, "please stop clapping so I can finish."

She went on to say that European countries are faring even worse when it comes to emissions, something which prompted Joy to sarcastically ask, "So we should pollute because they're polluting?" McCain later stated that she does believe in climate change, but just has a problem with the "messaging from the left to Americans."

After a commercial break, Goldberg explained how one of the show's producers warned her about her defense of flying private, but she doubled down.

"The EP said to me, 'People might get upset with you if you say you take a private plane because you didn't want to talk to people,'" she explained. "I don't want other people seeing me go, 'Oh my godddd, I don't want to be up here no more!' because that's how I fly."