Whoopi Goldberg Suspended From ‘The View’ Following Holocaust Remarks
Whoopi Goldberg has been served a two-week suspension from the ABC talk show The View after widespread backlash to her controversial comments about the Holocaust.
ABC News president Kim Godwin confirmed the suspension on Tuesday night, writing in a statement, “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.”
— ABC News PR (@ABCNewsPR) February 2, 2022
The controversy arose after Monday’s episode of the daytime talk show during a discussion about a Tennessee school board’s pulling of the Holocaust graphic novel Maus. “Let’s be truthful about it because [the] Holocaust isn’t about race,” Goldberg said at the time. “It’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”
Goldberg’s remarks received immediate criticism from viewers, as well as Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the U.S. Holocaust Museum. The Sister Act star would later apologize for her comments, both on social media and on Tuesday’s episode of The View.
“I said something that I feel a responsibility for not leaving unexamined because my words upset so many people, which was never my intention,” Goldberg said at the top of Tuesday’s episode. “And I understand why now, and for that, I am deeply, deeply grateful because the information I got was really helpful and helped me understand some different things.”
“I said that the Holocaust wasn’t about race and it was instead about man’s inhumanity to man,” she continued. “But it 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 as I said and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people, as they know, and as you all know because I’ve always done that.”
The View, Weekdays, 11 am/10c, ABC