Whoopi blasts New York Times Oscar story

Whoopi Goldberg Monday criticized The New York Times for leaving her out of a Sunday article that reported on the small number of African-Americans in recent Hollywood movies.

"I am embarrassed to tell you it hurt me terribly," Goldberg said on ABC's "The View." "When you win an Academy Award, that's part of what you've done, your legacy. I will always be Academy Award-winner Whoopi Goldberg, and [I] have been dismissed and erased by The New York Times film critics, who should know better."

However, the article, "Hollywood's Whiteout," by Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott, focused on films released since 2002, when Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won the Oscar, marking what the writers considered a watershed moment for the Oscars and the industry overall, "which had given statuettes to a total of seven black actors in the previous 73 years." Goldberg won for 1990's "Ghost." The article named only Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier among the pre-2002 winners.

"Our story was correct and it seems some people are misreading it," a Times spokeswoman told Newsday. "We never intended to name every black actor and actress who won an Oscar. . . . We pointed out that prior to [2002] there had been only seven and we didn't name them all."