Whoopi Goldberg causes irritation with Holocaust statements – suspension
Whoopi Goldberg in an archive image
Source: AP/Carolyn Kaster
US actress Whoopi Goldberg apologized on Twitter for saying on a talk show that the Holocaust was “not about race”. However, she was suspended from the US broadcaster ABC for two weeks as a presenter.
uS actress Whoopi Goldberg has apologized for a comment she made on ABC television’s The View on Monday about the Holocaust.
“I said on today’s show that the Holocaust is not about race, it is about man’s inhumanity to man. I should have said it’s about both,” the Oscar winner tweeted. “Like Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League shared: “The Holocaust was about the systematic annihilation of the Jewish people by the Nazis, whom they regarded as an inferior race.” My mistake.” She regrets the pain she caused. “Written with sincerest apologies.”
Greenblatt thanked Goldberg for correcting her comment “and acknowledging the Holocaust for what it is.” He wrote on Twitter that he hopes that “we can work together to fight ignorance about this terrible crime and the hatred that threatens everyone” as anti-Semitism reaches historic proportions.
ABC TV boss Kim Godwin said after Goldberg’s apology: “While Whoopi has apologized, I asked her to take the time to consider and learn about the implications of her comments.” effective immediately for two weeks for her inaccurate and hurtful comments”.
The discussion in The View centered on the banning of Art Spiegelman’s comic book, Mouse: A Survivor’s Tale, by a Tennessee school board. She cited nudity and obscenity in the story about the author’s father, an Auschwitz survivor, which won a Pulitzer Prize, as reasons for the ban.
Goldberg said in the discussion, “I’m surprised that what makes you uncomfortable is the fact that there is some nudity. I mean, it’s about the Holocaust, the killing of six million people, but you don’t mind? If you do, let’s be truthful. Because the Holocaust is not about race. No, it’s not about race.”
“You’re talking off topic”
Presenter Joy Behar objected that the Nazis saw the Jews as a “different race.” “But it’s not about race. … It’s about man’s inhumanity to man,” Goldberg replied. Commentator Ana Navarro replied: “It’s about white supremacy. It was against Jews and Gypsies and Roma.” Goldberg: “But these are two groups of white people.”
Co-host Sara Haines said that the Nazis did not consider Jews to be white. “But you’re missing the point,” Goldberg insisted. “The moment they breed it, it goes in that direction. Let’s talk about what it is. It’s about how people treat each other. That’s a problem.”