American actor and television host Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from ABC and The View for two weeks after her controversial Holocaust comments on the daytime talk show.
Goldberg was suspended for comments she made during Monday’s episode as part of a discussion about a Tennessee school board’s banning of the graphic novel Maus.
Goldberg said that “the Holocaust isn’t about race — it’s about man’s inhumanity to man.” Those comments received immediate backlash from the Jewish community and beyond.
She issued the following apology on Monday night,
“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. As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazis’ systematic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race.’
I stand corrected. The Jewish people around the world have always had my support, and that will never waver. I’m sorry for the hurt that I have caused.”
However, the president of ABC, Kim Godwin, stated, in a note to staff announced he is suspending Whoopi Goldberg. He wrote,
“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, the entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”
See video below!