The actress and TV personality Whoopi Goldberg on ABC’s The View said Nazi genocide of the Jews was not about race.
Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from a US talk show after saying the Holocaust involved “two groups of white people” that’s why the Nazi genocide of the Jews was “not about race”, BBC report.
She apologised but then caused further offence while attempting to explain her remarks on a late-night show.
In a note to staff on Tuesday night, ABC News president Kim Godwin wrote:
“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments. While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities .Just last week I noted that the culture at ABC News is one that is driven, kind, inclusive, respectful, and transparent. Whoopi’s comments do not align with those values.
“These decisions are never easy, but necessary”, – she added in the memo, reported the Hollywood Reporter.”
‘Words matter’
Earlier on Tuesday, Goldberg issued her third public apology.
“Yesterday on the show I misspoke, – she said to open the talk show. – [The Holocaust] is indeed about race, because Hitler and the Nazis considered the Jews to be an inferior race. Now, words matter, and mine are no exception. I regret my comments and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people.”
The 66-year-old Oscar-winning actress, who has been on The View since 2007, first made the controversial comments on Monday’s show, the 31st of January 2022, while discussing a Tennessee school board’s banning of a graphic novel about the Holocaust on the grounds that it showed nudity, profanity and suicide.
Amid the uproar, she released an apology hours later.
But on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday night, while attempting to clarify her comments, she said the Nazis had lied and actually had issues with ethnicity not race, which caused further offence..
She apologised – but in a muddled attempt to clarify her comments, ended up having to say sorry again.
Goldberg, a 66-year-old Oscar-winning actress who has been on The View since 2007, told her co-hosts: “I’m surprised that’s what made you uncomfortable, the fact that there was some nudity.
“I mean, it’s about the Holocaust, the killing of six million people, but that didn’t bother you?
“If you’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it. Because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race.”
Co-host Joy Behar pointed out that the Nazis said the Jews were a different race.
Goldberg said: “But it’s not about race. It’s not. It’s about man’s inhumanity to other man.”
“But it’s about white supremacy, – responded co-host Ana Navarro. – It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies and Roma.”
“But these are two white groups of people,” countered Goldberg.
Co-host Sara Haines pointed out that the Nazis “didn’t see them as white“.
Goldberg continued: “But you’re missing the point! The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley. Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s how people treat each other. It’s a problem.”
She nodded to someone behind the camera as the show’s theme music played to signal an ad break.
Critics blasted the show for platforming dangerous disinformation.
See also:
Rome church condemns swastika-draped casket at funeral
Polish official fired after calling Holocaust law ‘stupid’
