Whoopi Goldberg was suspended from ABC’s “The View” talk show on Tuesday stemming from statements she made a day earlier that the Holocaust was “not about race,” the network’s news division president said.
The 66-year-old Goldberg apologized for her remarks later on Monday during an appearance on “The Late Show,” and again on the next broadcast of “The View” on Tuesday morning.
“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” ABC News President Kim Godwin said in a statement provided Tuesday to HuffPost. “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”
Here’s the full note that ABC News president Kim Godwin sent staffers tonight:
After talking about the graphic novel, Goldberg said: “Let’s be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No. It’s not about race!”
She repeatedly tried to prove her point that the Holocaust was about “man’s inhumanity to man” despite her co-hosts interjecting to remind her that Jews in Nazi Germany were considered “a different race”.
“But you’re missing the point! You’re missing the point,” Goldberg insisted, adding, “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. That’s the problem.”
“I thought it was a salient discussion because as a Black person I think of race as being something that I can see. People were very angry and they said ‘no no we are a race,’ and I understand,” she told Colbert on The Late Show.
“People, you know, decided I was all these other things I’m actually not. I’m incredibly torn up by being told these things about myself. And I get it, folks are angry. I accept that and I did it to myself,” she continued. “This was my thought process and I’ll work hard not to think that way again.”