“I want her to admit what she did”: Whoopi Goldberg shares opinion on Emmett Till accuser Carolyn Donham

Whoopi Goldberg said that the woman behind Emmett Till’s lynching, Carolyn Bryant Donham, roaming around freely seems strange to her.

Goldberg appeared at the New York Film Festival where she spoke to Page Six and said that she doesn't want Donham in jail. Instead, the actress claims that the latter must be brought in front of a judge and jury.

She continued,

“I want her to admit what she did and what part she had. And then, you know, for me, that would be perfect, instead of still trying to hide what she did away.”

A Mississippi grand jury refused to punish Donham this year. She had alleged that Till whistled at her, leading to his lynching in August 1955. Emmett went to visit his relatives in Mississippi when he met Donham at a grocery store where she was an employee.

However, Donham was not arrested for being involved in the lynching and her late husband Roy Bryant and brother-in-law J.W. Milam were acquitted of all charges.

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Whoopi Goldberg speaks on the movie based on Emmett Till

Whoopi Goldberg is one of the producers of the movie based on Emmett Hill (Image via Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Whoopi Goldberg is the producer of the film Till, based on Emmett Till's life. The movie's world premiere was recently held at the New York Film Festival.

Following its screening, Whoopi stated that it took a long time to make the movie and spoke on other social issues in today’s world. As she spoke to the crowd, Goldberg said:

“Now you know what institutionalized racism looks like and you can connect it to your own life. Maybe you’re a g*y person. Maybe you’re a woman. Maybe you’re an Asian person. You all understand this hatred because it’s coming closer and closer.”

Goldberg continued, saying that the way systematic racism is shown on screen and the way it happens, in reality, is completely different. Stating George Floyd's example, she said that everyone has witnessed it in real life.

She also said that the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, among others, helped increase the need to make a movie on Emmett Till. Whoopi also said that people have said that they should be making more movies on the black people who lost their lives after everything that happened in the last few years.

The 66-year-old said that people have been saying that filmmakers should be telling these stories and thanked MGM's Orion division for letting her make the movie. She further said that she has been trying forever to make such movies and added:

“And people say, No, it’s an important story and we really feel for it.’ And it’s like, ‘So you’re not going to give us any money for this?’”

According to Goldberg, the reason behind the delay in the film’s world premiere is due to the ongoing restrictions on it.

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Who was Emmett Till and what happened to him?

Born on July 25, 1941, Emmett Till was a 14-year-old who was kidnapped tortured and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, while he was visiting his relatives. The teen had reportedly offended Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, at a store where she worked.

There are different versions of what happened at the store and the real story remains unknown even today. However, Emmett was accused of flirting with, touching and whistling at Carolyn.

A few days later, Carolyn's husband and his half-brother went to Emmett's uncle's house and kidnapped Emmett. After being beaten and mutilated, his body was drowned in the Tallahatchie River, where it was found three days later.

Emmett Till's killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were arrested in August 1955 and stood trial for Emmett's murder the following month. However, an all-white, all-male jury found the two not guilty of murder and acquitted the two men after deliberating for about an hour. Although the case was reopened in 2004 and later in 2017, in 2021, it was closed again without any new charges.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Whoopi Goldberg's film on the incident will be released in select theaters on October 14, 2022, and will expand on October 28.