Source: Jenny Anderson / Getty
Whoopi Goldberg is now serving a suspension from her hosting duties on The View after her comments on the show stating that the Holocaust was “not about race”, according to the network’s president.
On Tuesday (February 1st), ABC News president Kim Godwin announced that the actress and co-host of the popular daytime talk show would be suspended for two weeks following her remarks concerning the Holocaust made during a discussion on Monday’s episode of the show. “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,” she said in a statement released via Twitter. “The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family, and communities.”
Goldberg had made her comments as the panel was discussing the McMinn County School Board in Tennessee’s decision to ban the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman, which depicts his father’s survival of the Holocaust, for nudity. “Let’s be truthful about it because [the] Holocaust isn’t about race,” she said. “It’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.” The comments sparked an immediate backlash from several Jewish organizations online, including the Anti-Defamation League. She would issue a public apology through her social media and followed up with an on-air apology on Tuesday’s episode of The View.
“So yesterday on our show, I misspoke,” Goldberg said at the outset of the broadcast. 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 CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, also appeared on the episode for a discussion with Goldberg and the other hosts.