Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from The View for two weeks over the 'wrong and hurtful' comments she made about the Holocaust.
The 66-year-old actress and TV star alleged that race was not a factor in the Holocaust - the genocide of European Jews during World War II which took place from 1941 to 1945.
Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population.
And Goldberg's controversial comments about race during this horrific period in history has landed her in very hot water.
Whoopi, who co-hosts American chat show, made the comments during a discussion about a US school board’s decision to ban Maus - a graphic novel about the experiences of a Holocaust survivor.
During the show, the Sister Act star said: “Let’s be truthful – the Holocaust isn’t about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man – that’s what it’s about.”
And when her co-host insisted the Holocaust was 'about white supremacy', Whoopi replied: "But these are two white groups of people. You’re missing the point."
“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’s a problem. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, because black, white, Jews - everybody eats each other.”
Whoopi’s 'warped' view sparked serious backlash online, as many condemned her 'dangerous' comments about the Holocaust.
Following the backlash, ABC News President Kim Godwin announced Whoopi's suspension Tuesday night, saying it was 'effective immediately'.
"While Whoopi has apologised, I've asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments,' Godwin said in a tweet.
"The entire ABC News organisation stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities."
During Monday's show, Whoopi apologised a number of hours later following immediate backlash on social media.
But her remarks had sparked rapidly, leaving with everyone from the Israeli Consular General in New York to the Auschwitz Memorial and Anti-Defamation League, furious.
Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, said: “The Holocaust was about the Nazis’ systemic annihilation of the Jewish people – who they deemed to be an inferior race.”
“They dehumanised them and used their racist propaganda to justify slaughtering six million Jews. Holocaust distortion is dangerous.”
Whoopi, responded to the backlash by releasing an apology on Twitter.
In an emotional statement, she said: “On today’s show I said the Holocaust ‘is not about race, but about man’s inhumanity to man’. I should have said it is about both.”
“As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people – who they deemed to be an inferior race’. I stand corrected.”
“The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I am sorry for the hurt I have caused. Written with my sincerest apologies. Whoopi Goldberg."
