ABC News announced Tuesday that it was suspending The View host Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks after she drew massive criticism for falsely declaring that the Holocaust was "not about race."
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
During Monday's show, Goldberg said that the holocaust was about "man's inhumanity to man" and involved "two white groups of people."
Goldberg made the comments while the panel was discussing a Tennessee school board's banning of Maus, a graphic novel about the Nazi death camps.
"It's about the Holocaust, the killing of six million people, but that didn't bother you?" she said. "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."
Another host, Joy Behar, responded that the Nazis described Jews as a different race.
"But it's not about race," Goldberg said. "It's not. It's about man's inhumanity to other man."
Co-host Ana Navarro responded to Goldberg, saying: "But it's about white supremacists going after Jews."
"But these are two white groups of people!" Goldberg replied. "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 doesn't matter if you're Black or white, Jews, it's each other."
ABC News President Kim Godwin announced Goldberg's suspension on Tuesday.
Describing Goldberg's comments as "misinformed, upsetting and hurtful," Godwin said that "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," Godwin added. "The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities."
Whoopi Goldberg suspended from 'The View' for two weeks over Holocaust comments. https://t.co/QYBrEfb7yG
— ABC News (@ABC) February 2, 2022
"These decisions are never easy, but necessary," she added. "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."
On Monday night, Goldberg issued a statement apologizing for her remarks, and on Tuesday, Goldberg opened up The View offering yet another apology.
"Yesterday on our show, I misspoke. I tweeted about it last night but I want you to hear it from me directly," the comedian and actor said. "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 stand corrected and I stand with the Jewish people," she added before introducing Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt to the panel and audience.
"Well, Whoopi, there's no question that the Holocaust was about race," Greenblatt proclaimed.
"That's how the Nazis saw it as they perpetrated the systematic annihilation of the Jewish people across continents, across countries with deliberate and ruthless cruelty. And literally the first page of Maus, the book you were talking about yesterday, Whoopi, it opens with a quote from Hitler, and literally, it says, the Jews undoubtedly are a race, but they are not human.
"You see, Hitler's ideology, it was predicated on the idea that the Aryans, the Germans were a quote, 'master race,' and the Jews were a subhuman race. It was radicalized antisemitism," he continued.
Later in the interview, he also called for the program to consider someone Jewish when they finally decide to hire a permanent replacement for former co-host Meghan McCain.
According to the Daily Beast, the show has only had two Jewish hosts in its 25-year history, and none since 2016.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
