“… people can vote for who they want to. That is one of the great rights of this country. You don’t have to like it, but we don’t go after people because we don’t like who they voted for.” 

Those were Whoopi Goldberg’s powerful words and warning to actress Debra Messing. She’s right. 

It’s time to end the outing, doxing, and "cancelling" of Trump supporters in Hollywood and beyond.

The mele began over the weekend when Messing caught wind of a fundraising event for President Trump in Beverly Hills. She asked on Twitter that the list of attendees be printed.

During a discussion on “The View” Behar and Goldberg weighed in on whether Messing is right to ask for what is, in essence, a blacklist. 

Goldberg and Behar made at least four good points:

  1. Political retribution is not okay. Goldberg: “You don't have the right, in this country — people can vote for who they want to. That is one of the great rights of this country. You don’t have to like it, but we don’t go after people because we don’t like who they voted for. We don’t go after them that way. 

  2. Messing is calling for 2019 McCarthyism. Goldberg: “We had something called a blacklist, and a lot of really good people were accused of stuff. Nobody cared whether it was true or not. They all were accused and they lost their right to work."

  3. Target lists can lead to dangerous outcomes. Behar: “I happen to be against that kind of thing. I do believe that you should know if a company gave a lot of money to Trump… but when it's individuals, I think then you're stalking and you're starting to endanger that person's life so I don't approve of that." She also added, “Last time people did this, people ended up killing themselves. This is not a good idea, OK?"

  4. Who you support is your right and your business: Behar: "Your idea of who you don’t want to work with is your personal business."

  5. Target lists can boomerang. Behar: “Do not encourage people to print out lists because the next list that comes out, your name will be on, and then people will be coming after you!"

Creating lists that lead to doxxing or targeting of individuals is irresponsible and dangerous.

This comes on the heels of Joaquin Castro creating a list of Trump donors in Texas and the boycott of SoulCycle after it was made public that the founder was holding a fundraiser.

Then, there are the lawmakers like Senator Cory Booker and Representative Maxine Waters who called for individuals to harass people who work for the Trump administration.

How quickly we forget that unhinged individuals can channel their political outrage into attempts at murder. We nearly lost Representative Steve Scalise in 2017 at the hands of a leftist activist. Senator Rand Paul is still undergoing surgeries following a physical attack by a neighbor.

Political retribution is a tool meant to silence and shame individuals out of supporting their preferred candidates. An individual should not have to lose her job and perhaps her life for that support in a nation founded on freedom of thought.

Kuddos to Goldberg and Behar for calling out Messing's blacklist idea.

Hopefully, other actors and entertainers will be reasonable and recognize that we can disagree politically, but do so civilly.