“The View” host Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended for two weeks after her remarks on the show that the Holocaust was “not about race.”
“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” ABC News president Kim Godwin said in a statement. “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments,” Godwin added. “The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”
During the roundtable discussion about a Tennessee school district’s decision to ban the novel, “Maus,” Goldberg said she was more surprised by the nudity in “Maus” rather than the nudity.
“Well, this is white people doing it to white people, so y’all gonna fight amongst yourselves,” Goldberg said.
The co-hosts then discussed the issue of the government trying to erase parts of the nation’s history with race. The critical race theory has been widely discussed and there have been bills introduced to stop the teaching of race issues in schools.
Goldberg responded: “Let’s be truthful about it because [the] Holocaust isn’t about race. It’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man… These are two white groups of people. The minute you turn it into race it goes down this alley. Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s [about] how people treat each other. It doesn’t matter if you’re Black or white, Jews — it’s each other.”
Goldberg apologized for her remarks following a wave of backlash.
“Yesterday on our show, I misspoke. I tweeted about it last night but I want you to hear it from me directly,” she wrote in a statement shared to Twitter. “I said something that I feel a responsibility for not leaving unexamined, because my words upset so many people, which was never my intention. I understand why now, and for that I am deeply, deeply grateful because the information I got was really helpful, and it helped me understand some different things.”
“I said the Holocaust wasn’t about race and was instead about man’s inhumanity to man. But it is indeed about race because Hitler and the Nazis considered Jews to be an inferior race. Now, words matter and mine are no exception. I regret my comments, as I said, and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people as they know and y’all know, because I’ve always done that.”
