Whoopi Goldberg is firing back at Three’s Company star Suzanne Somers for comments the actress made alleging the chemotherapy Patrick Swayze used to treat his pancreatic cancer ultimately killed him.

The Dirty Dancing star died last week after a nearly two year battle with the disease. Shortly after, Somers came under fire for comments she made about Swayze in an interview with Toronto’s National Post.


“They took this beautiful man and they basically put poison in him,” Somers told National Post columnist Shinan Govani. “Why couldn’t they have built him up nutritionally and gotten rid of the toxins in his body?”

Somers – who used holistic methods to treat her breast cancer in 2001 – responded to incident on her website Monday.

“In a casual conversation at a private party (with someone who never identified himself as a reporter) at the Toronto Film Festival last week, I was asked about this beloved actor. It was never my intention to make an official statement about his passing,” Suzanne wrote. “I was not informed or aware I was being interviewed. I would never have been so insensitive as to offer a public statement so close to his untimely passing. I sincerely apologize if my comment has caused any additional pain to his family during this difficult time. I send my deepest condolences for their loss.”

The public rebuttal hasn’t stopped Whoopi from taking Suzanne to task over her remarks.

“In case she doesn’t know, Patrick did everything and went everywhere to try and stay healthy as long as he could,” The View co-host said of her Ghost co-star on Wednesday. “That he’s been gone a week and this statement came out is bad timing and bad taste and Suzanne, you know better,” Whoopi continued. “And I’m not sure that’s not what you meant to do, but you should have thought about it”