The US talkshow host and actor Whoopi Goldberg has offered her “sincerest apologies” after saying the Holocaust “isn’t about race”.
She said Jewish people around the world had “always had my support”, in a statement after her remarks led to a backlash online.
“The View” moderator provoked outrage for repeatedly asserting that “the Holocaust isn’t about race.”
Her comments came during a segment of the ABC talk show on Monday that focused in part on a Tennessee school district’s decision to ban “Maus,” a graphic novel that depicts the horrors of the Holocaust.
Earlier this month, McMinn County, Tennessee, Board of Education removed the book from its eighth grade English language arts curriculum, citing “rough, objectionable language” and a drawing of a nude woman.
During the roundtable discussion, Whoopi Goldberg said she was surprised that the nudity in “Maus” — and not the Holocaust itself — is what appeared to concern the school board, while co-host Joy Behar replied that the nudity concerns were likely “a canard to throw you off from the fact that they don’t like history that makes White people look bad.”
“Well, this is White people doing it to White people, so y’all gonna fight amongst yourselves,” Goldberg said, referring to the Holocaust.
Advertisements
While none of the co hosts pushed back after that statement, the conversation then turned to how some are attempting to ban problematic parts of the nation’s history, particularly history dealing with race and racism, from being taught in schools.
Goldberg responded: “If you’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn’t about race.”
She added that the Holocaust, which saw an estimated 6 million Jews and 5 million others killed as a result of the Nazis’ racist ideology, was about “man’s inhumanity to man” and said it involved “two White groups of people.”
In a statement late Monday, Goldberg said she made an error with her comment.
“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,” she wrote on Twitter.
“As Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League 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.”
She added: “The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused.”
Advertisements
