Whoopi Goldberg reignited the conversation surrounding her statements earlier this year that she believed the Holocaust wasn’t about race. The comments, at the time, earned the television host a temporary suspension from The View, and launched a wave of reactionary pieces, an official apology from Goldberg, and sidebar commentary from, of all people, Gina Carano. Well, Goldberg reopened the topic recently when she was interviewed by the Sunday Times of London and asked about the controversy. She gave her opinion, then had to issue an official statement clarifying what she meant in the new interview.
Upon reading Whoopi Goldberg’s comments in the Sunday Times of London, Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, posted a Tweet calling The View co-hosts comments regarding the Holocaust and race “deeply offensive and incredibly ignorant.” This prompted Goldberg to issue a statement to Deadline in which she clarified that she was not “doubling down” on her opinion from earlier this year, but was merely explaining to the reporter what she was trying to say at the time. Goldberg’s statement partially reads:
It was never my intention to appear as if I was doubling down on hurtful comments, especially after talking with and hearing people like rabbis and old and new friends weighing in. I’m still learning a lot and believe me, I heard everything everyone said to me. I believe that the Holocaust was about race, and I am still as sorry now as I was then that I upset, hurt and angered people. My sincere apologies again, especially to everyone who thought this was a fresh rehash of the subject. I promise it was not. In this time of rising antisemitism, I want to be very clear when I say that I always stood with the Jewish people and always will. My support for them has not wavered and never will.
The argument that started in February surfaced when Whoopi Goldberg stated on The View that she didn’t think the Holocaust was racial because there was confusion as to whether the Jewish community was a race or a religion. When Goldberg returned to The View following her suspension, she discussed how difficult it can be to address important topics in the five minutes allowed by the show’s format. And at the time, she did double down on her ability to have these conversations, telling her daytime audience:
I hope it keeps all the important conversations happening because we’re gonna keep having tough conversations. In part because this is what we’ve been hired to do. It’s not always pretty, as I said, and it’s not always as other people would like to hear. But it is an honor to sit at this table and be able to have these conversations because they’re important.
But the Twitter thread posted by ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt suggests that he doesn’t believe fully in Whoopi Goldberg’s apology, as he explains through this exchange on social media.
Yet again, #WhoopiGoldberg’s comments about the Holocaust and race are deeply offensive and incredibly ignorant. When she made similar comments earlier this year, we explained how the Nazi regime was inherently racist. 🧵Read on...December 27, 2022
Whoopi Goldberg has plenty of opinions on The View, even recently stating that she is getting “tired” of the show and thinks the spot she has at the table is the “worst.” There’s always the possibility that Goldberg could go back to movies. She was being interviewed by the Sunday Times of London for the role she plays in the drama Till. And Goldberg is an Oscar winner who always kept a foot in the film community. But we can see her staying on The View, as she seems to have enjoyed the platform the show has offered her over the years.
What other TV shows are available to you? We have a complete rundown of 2023 TV premiere dates which should help get you excited for the coming year.
