Whoopi Goldberg had to apologize a second time for comments about the Holocaust when she appeared to repeat the same claims that got her suspended from ABC’s “The View” in February of 2022.
Goldberg provoked strong reactions when she claimed — during a discussion about the Holocaust-themed graphic novel “Maus” — that the Holocaust was “not about race.” After Goldberg made several apologies, ABC eventually suspended her from the show — but she raised eyebrows again when she revisited the topic during a December interview.
While doing a press tour in London as one of the producers for the new movie “Till” — about Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy who was lynched in 1955 — Goldberg’s comments came up as part of a conversation about race, and she again suggested that she had reason to believe that the Jews were not a “race.”
The interviewer pushed back — as co-host Joy Behar had on “The View” — saying that the “Nazis saw Jews as a race.”
“Yes, but that’s the killer, isn’t it? The oppressor is telling you what you are. Why are you believing them?” Goldberg pushed back. “They’re Nazis. Why believe what they’re saying?”
“My best friend said, ‘Not for nothing is there no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we’re probably not a race,’” she continued.
But a rep. for Goldberg put out a statement on Tuesday in response to the immediate backlash, claiming that she had not meant to double down on her previous comments.
“Recently while doing press in London, I was asked about my comments from earlier this year. I tried to convey to the reporter what I had said and why, and attempted to recount that time. 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,” Goldberg claimed.
Goldberg went on to claim that she was “still learning” and doing her best to listen to how people felt about the things she said.
“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,” she continued. “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.”