Whoopi Goldberg took on some of her critics over her Holocaust comments that earned her a suspension from “The View” in February.
In an interview with the Times of London this week, the former “The View” co-host defended her earlier comments that “the Holocaust isn’t about race.”
“Remember who they were killing first,” she told the newspaper. “They were not killing racial; they were killing physical. They were killing people they considered to be mentally defective. And then they made this decision.”
According to from a source in USA Today, shared during Hanukkah, Goldberg suggested Jews are divided about whether they are a race, religion or both.
“My best friend said, ‘Not for nothing is there no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we’re probably not a race,’ ” she recalled.
When The Times journalist Janice Turner mentioned racially divisive laws set by Nazis aimed at Jews, “The View” cohost insisted that the Holocaust “wasn’t originally” about “racial” or “physical” attributes.
“They were killing people they considered to be mentally defective. And then they made this decision,” she said.
She also said that Jews are not outwardly identifiable the way blacks are. “It doesn’t change the fact that you could not tell a Jew on a street. You could find me. You couldn’t find them. That was the point I was making,” she said.
Arsen Ostrovsky later criticized her on Twitter, “So, after supposed ‘apology’ earlier in year, Whoopi Goldberg doubles down on her vile remarks that the Holocaust was not about race, and instead ‘white on white’ violence. Someone get this ignorant fool off the air! @TheView”
She suggested that the reaction to her original comments was overblown. “You would have thought that I’d taken a big old stinky dump on the table, butt naked,” she said. She also said a friend agreed with her original comments. “My best friend said, ‘Not for nothing is there no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we’re probably not a race.’ ”
“The View” co-host also claimed that the Nazis targeted people of African descent in addition to Jews because they were physically different and went as far as to suggest that Jews had an easier time blending in with White people and hiding from the Nazis than Black people did at the time of the Holocaust according to Fox News.
On Feb. 1, ABC News president Kim Godwin announced that Goldberg would be suspended for two weeks from the morning talk show “The View” after her remarks during a Jan. 31 episode of the program.
In addition to her work with the show she is also a Hollywood actress and the author of several books.
“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.”
“Once again Whoopi insists on dismissing the Holocaust as a mere white-on-white crime, rather than the industrial-scale murder of Europe’s Jews. #Antisemitism — history’s oldest and most toxic hatred — is surging, but Whoopi is determined to trivialize it.” stated by Jeff Jacoby a columnist on Twitter.
During the episode, which focused on the recent Tennessee school board decision to ban Maus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, Goldberg said: “Let’s be truthful about it…the Holocaust isn’t about race. ”
She later apologized for making the comment, saying, “As [Anti-Defamation League CEO and National Director] Jonathan Greenblatt shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazis’ systematic annihilation of the Jewish people—who they deemed to be an inferior race.’ I stand corrected.”
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate.
(Additional reporting provided by Alberto Arellano)
