The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from the ABC program for two weeks following her controversial remarks on the Holocaust.
The decision was announced Tuesday by ABC News President Kim Godwin after Goldberg stoked controversy when she suggested that the Holocaust was “not about race.” She subsequently apologized, saying she was “sorry for the hurt” she caused.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG APOLOGIZES FOR SAYING HOLOCAUST WAS ‘NOT ABOUT RACE’
“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” Kim 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. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family, and communities.”
On Monday’s episode of The View, Goldberg argued that the Holocaust was about “man’s inhumanity to man” and not race.
Her comments drew pushback from her co-hosts and fierce public backlash. In a statement Monday night apologizing for causing hurt, Goldberg said she should have asserted that “it was about both.”
Sparks fly as The View panel confronts Whoopi after she says “the Holocaust isn’t about race. No. It’s not about race.”
“Well, the considered Jews a different race,” Joy Behar says.“But it’s about white supremacy. It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies,” Ana Navarro adds. pic.twitter.com/GZwZSi2qXi
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 31, 2022
In an internal memo to employees, Godwin said Goldberg’s comments were “misinformed, upsetting, and hurtful.” She said Goldberg’s comments do not align with ABC’s values. Godwin also argued that Goldberg has previously shown with her words and actions over the years that she understands the horror of the Holocaust.
“These decisions are never easy but necessary,” she said in the memo. “Words matter and we must be cognizant of the impact our words have.”
Goldberg opened Tuesday’s episode of The View with another apology. She also had a discussion with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt about the Holocaust.
Prior to that, in an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Monday, Goldberg said she did not intend to cause hurt but felt that people misunderstood what she was saying. She said her point was that she felt race was more about skin color and was different from ethnicity.
At one point, Colbert asked Goldberg why she thought the Holocaust was not about race, noting that the Nazis would say it was about race.
“The Nazis lied. It wasn’t,” she responded. “They had issues with ethnicity, not with race, because most of the Nazis were white people, and most of the people they were attacking were white people. So to me, I’m thinking, ‘How can you say it’s about race if you are fighting each other?’”
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Goldberg, a 66-year-old actress and comedian with roles in shows such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and movies including Sister Act, has been a co-host of The View since 2007. Her former co-host, conservative commentator Meghan McCain, wrote an op-ed in the Daily Mail on Tuesday arguing that the incident demonstrated that there was a “double, triple, and even quadruple standard if you are conservative.” McCain also said she hopes Goldberg does not get fired.
“I am not calling for Whoopi Goldberg to be fired, if only because I don’t believe there is any universe where she could possibly do anything that could get her fired — she is the crown jewel of The View and a pop culture icon,” she said. “But I hope this can be used as a teachable moment to explain to millions of Americans why conflating the Holocaust as something that is specific and limited to ‘white people’ is insane, ahistorical, and anti-Semitic.”
