In a nation already reeling from the senseless murder of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, Hollywood’s elite have once again shown their true colors. On September 10, during a segment on ABC’s The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg— the self-proclaimed moral compass of progressive America—uttered words that have ignited a firestorm of outrage across the country. Defending the brutal killer, Decarlos Brown Jr., as nothing more than a “sick American in need,” Goldberg dismissed the vicious stabbing as a symptom of inadequate mental health care rather than the explosive result of failed liberal policies on crime and immigration. “Stop politicizing this,” she pleaded, her voice dripping with sanctimonious concern for the perpetrator. “This is not political. This has to do with how we take care of our sick Americans when they are in need.” But let’s be clear: This is political. It’s the grotesque culmination of decades of Democrat-led leniency that prioritizes the rights of repeat offenders over the lives of innocent immigrants fleeing war-torn homelands. And in true liberal media fashion, Goldberg’s spin isn’t just tone-deaf—it’s a slap in the face to Zarutska’s grieving family, her adopted community in Charlotte, North Carolina, and every American who believes justice should be swift and unforgiving.
Imagine this: A young woman, barely 23, escapes the horrors of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She arrives in the United States with her mother, sister, and brother, wide-eyed with hope for a new life. Iryna Zarutska wasn’t just any refugee; she was a beacon of resilience. Born in Kyiv, she graduated from Synergy College with a degree in Art and Restoration, her hands calloused from sculpting dreams into reality. “She shared her creativity generously, gifting family and friends with her artwork,” her obituary poignantly reads. Fluent in English within months, she dove headfirst into American life—working shifts at Zepeddie’s Pizzeria, walking neighbors’ dogs with her radiant smile, and enrolling at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College to pursue her passion for animals. She dreamed of becoming a veterinary assistant, a quiet ambition that spoke volumes about her gentle soul. “Iryna came here to find peace and safety,” her family stated in a heartbreaking release, “and instead her life was stolen from her in the most horrific way.”
Zarutska’s father, trapped in Ukraine under martial law that bars men of conscription age from leaving, couldn’t even attend her funeral. He watched from afar as his daughter’s body was lowered into the ground, the weight of two wars—one abroad, one at home—crushing his spirit. This was a girl who embodied the American Dream: hardworking, kind, and utterly vulnerable. She fled bombs and bloodshed only to meet her end on a Charlotte light rail train, her throat slit in a random act of savagery that no amount of “mental health advocacy” can justify.
Now, enter Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, the monster who turned Zarutska’s final moments into a nightmare captured on chilling surveillance footage. On August 22, 2025, around 9:45 p.m., Zarutska boarded the LYNX Blue Line at Scaleybark station in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood. Dressed in her pizzeria uniform—khaki pants and a dark shirt—she settled into a seat, scrolling innocently on her phone after a long shift. Behind her sat Brown, a homeless drifter in a red hoodie, his face twisting into grotesque grimaces that hinted at the demons raging inside him. For four agonizing minutes, the train rumbled on, oblivious to the horror unfolding. No security in the car—officers were conveniently one car ahead. Then, without a word, without provocation, Brown pulled a pocketknife from his pocket, unfolded it with deliberate pause, stood, and plunged it into Zarutska’s neck three times in rapid succession. Blood sprayed across the seats as she gasped her last breaths, her body crumpling in a pool of crimson. Fellow passengers, frozen in shock, didn’t realize the gravity until Brown casually exited two minutes later, wiping the blade on his sleeve.
Police arrested Brown on the platform almost immediately, his hands still stained with Zarutska’s blood. Charged with first-degree murder by Mecklenburg County, he now faces federal hate crime enhancements that could carry the death penalty—a small mercy in a justice system that has failed so spectacularly before. But who is this man whose “needs” Whoopi Goldberg so desperately wants us to consider? Brown isn’t some tragic figure down on his luck; he’s a career criminal with 14 prior arrests stretching back years. Assaults, thefts, drug possession—the rap sheet reads like a liberal policymaker’s worst nightmare. His own mother begged authorities to institutionalize him, pleading for intervention as his schizophrenia spiraled out of control. “His mother begged them to take him and put him away,” Goldberg herself acknowledged on The View, yet she twisted it into a call for more sympathy for the system that let him roam free.
In a jailhouse phone call to his sister Tracey, Brown chillingly revealed his warped mindset: He stabbed Zarutska because he believed she was “reading his mind.” Convinced that “government-implanted materials” controlled his thoughts, he saw her as a threat in a delusion-fueled frenzy. This isn’t illness; it’s evil masquerading as madness. And yet, the liberal spin machine, with Goldberg at the helm, wants us to weep for him? To ignore the revolving door of “soft-on-crime” policies that spat him back onto the streets time and again? Brown’s family blames the state for failing to provide mental health treatment, but let’s not forget: Charlotte’s Democrat-led leadership has slashed funding for involuntary commitments while pouring resources into “restorative justice” programs that sound noble but deliver death.
The outrage over Zarutska’s murder exploded when the surveillance video leaked online on September 6, 2025. Shared across social media, the grainy footage—showing Zarutska’s unsuspecting form suddenly convulsing in agony—drew millions of views and sparked a national reckoning. “This is what happens when you defund the police and coddle criminals,” tweeted a prominent Republican representative, who represents the district. “Decades of Democrat DAs and sheriffs putting woke agendas above public safety.” President Donald Trump himself weighed in, sending “love and hope” to Zarutska’s family and lambasting the “horrible” killing as a direct indictment of failed urban policies in Democratic strongholds. A White House spokesperson didn’t mince words: Blaming Democratic lawmakers and the media for enabling such tragedies through their refusal to address root causes like unchecked mental illness and migrant vulnerabilities.
But enter Whoopi Goldberg, stage left, with her Oscar-winning audacity. On The View, surrounded by her co-hosts nodding in agreement, Goldberg pivoted the conversation from justice to pity. “A young woman is dead. Let’s take that into consideration,” she intoned, her tone laced with faux empathy. “And yes, a man who should have been behind bars was loose… So, stop politicizing this. Nobody in this country wanted that young lady to die.” Oh, really? Then why rush to humanize the killer? Why frame this as a funding shortfall for “sick Americans” instead of a catastrophic failure of accountability? Goldberg’s words weren’t just insensitive; they were infuriating. As one social media user posted in a viral thread, “Whoopi just defended a murderer because he’s ‘sick.’ Meanwhile, Iryna’s family buries their daughter who escaped war for this? Shame on Hollywood.” The backlash was swift: #WhoopiHatesVictims trended nationwide, with trolls and truth-tellers alike eviscerating her for downplaying the crime and elevating the criminal.
This isn’t Goldberg’s first rodeo in the court of public opinion. Remember her Holocaust minimization? Her defense of radical activists? But this? This crosses a line into outright betrayal of the very immigrants liberals claim to champion. Zarutska, a white Ukrainian refugee, doesn’t fit the preferred narrative of “oppressed minority,” so suddenly her story is “politicized” when conservatives demand answers. It’s the same media bias that amplifies certain victims while muting others. Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, called the attack “senseless and tragic,” urging restraint in sharing the video out of respect for the family. Yet her administration’s policies—lax on fare enforcement, skimping on transit security—created the perfect storm for this atrocity.
Delve deeper into Brown’s sordid history, and the rage builds. At 34, he’s a walking testament to recidivism run amok. Court records reveal arrests for everything from shoplifting to aggravated assault, with mental health evaluations dismissed time after time due to overcrowded facilities and “rights-based” reforms that tie judges’ hands. His sister Tracey, in that haunting jail call, recounted how Brown sought help repeatedly—only to be turned away. “The state failed him,” she lamented. But who failed Iryna? The system that released him on minimal bail after his last offense? The progressive DAs who prioritize rehabilitation over incarceration? Or the media darlings like Goldberg who now plead for more of the same “compassion” that got an innocent woman killed?
Zarutska’s boyfriend, Stas Nikulytsia, poured salt in the wound during a tearful interview. “She came here for safety, and they let this animal walk free,” he said, his voice breaking as he scrolled through her Instagram—photos of her beaming with neighborhood dogs, sketches of vibrant landscapes, and captions in broken English full of gratitude for her new home. “How many times does he have to hurt someone before they lock him up?” Nikulytsia demanded, echoing the fury of millions. A GoFundMe for the family has raised over $500,000, with donors from Ukraine to every corner of the U.S. leaving messages like: “Iryna deserved better than this American horror show.” One viral post read: “She survived Putin’s war just to die because liberals won’t lock up the mentally ill. Thanks, Whoopi, for making it about him.”
The federal charge against Brown—added on September 9, 2025—marks a rare win for accountability. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi didn’t hold back: “Iryna Zarutska was living the American dream—her horrific murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people.” Could the death penalty loom? Absolutely, and good riddance. But even as Brown undergoes a competency evaluation—ordered last week amid questions of his fitness to stand trial—the debate rages on transit safety. Charlotte’s light rail, like so many urban systems, is a no-man’s-land: No fares enforced, no guards patrolling cars, just a false sense of security for riders like Zarutska. Experts point to a 30% spike in violent incidents on public transit since 2020, blamed on defund-the-police movements and budget reallocations to “equity programs.” Republicans in North Carolina have announced vigils in Zarutska’s honor and pushed bills for mandatory mental health holds on violent offenders. Democrats? Crickets, or worse—deflections like Goldberg’s.
As the nation mourns, the hypocrisy festers. The View‘s ratings dipped 15% post-segment, with advertisers pulling ads amid boycott calls. Goldberg, unfazed, doubled down in a follow-up tweet: “Mental health is a crisis. We need solutions, not scapegoats.” Solutions? How about locking up threats before they strike? How about vetting repeat felons instead of releasing them to prey on the vulnerable? Zarutska’s obituary paints her as “a gifted and passionate artist” who “quickly embraced her new life.” She loved animals, created beauty from chaos, and trusted America to protect her. Instead, she got a knife in the neck and a celebrity excuse from Whoopi Goldberg.
This tragedy isn’t isolated; it’s symptomatic. From New York subways to San Francisco BART, unchecked mental illness and crime have turned public spaces into gauntlets of fear. A recent report warns that without reform, urban violence will claim thousands more like Zarutska. Her story has pierced the veil because it’s so viscerally wrong: A war refugee, slain in the land of the free by a man society deemed “in need.” Goldberg’s defense isn’t compassion; it’s complicity. It tells killers they’re victims, and victims like Iryna? Collateral damage in the grand progressive experiment.
Friends remember Zarutska’s laughter echoing through her South End apartment, her sketches adorning walls like bursts of sunlight. “She’d walk those dogs like they were her own kids,” one neighbor recalled, tears streaming. “Always smiling, always kind. Why her? Why here?” Her mother, still in shock, clutches a photo from Iryna’s college graduation—eyes bright, future boundless. Now, that future is ashes, scattered by Brown’s blade and fertilized by liberal spin.
The call for Brown’s “public execution” might be extreme, but it captures the boiling rage. Vigil after vigil lights up Charlotte, with Ukrainian flags waving alongside American ones, a poignant reminder of betrayed promises. “She thought America was safe,” Nikulytsia said. “We all did.”
Whoopi Goldberg, take note: This is political. It’s about borders unsecured, criminals unbound, and a media elite more concerned with optics than orphans. Iryna Zarutska’s blood cries out for justice, not excuses. Her killer isn’t “in need”—he’s a predator who needs to rot. And if defending him is your hill to die on, Whoopi, then history will judge you as harshly as it honors Iryna: A light snuffed out too soon, in a nation that should have been her sanctuary.
As we close this chapter on a life unlived, let Zarutska’s story be the spark. Demand accountability. Reject the spin. And never forget: In the face of evil, sympathy for the devil is sympathy for slaughter.