Whoopi Goldberg suspended from The View after claiming the Holocaust ‘isn’t about race’

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Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from The View following her “wrong and hurtful” comments about the Holocaust.

The 66-year-old came under fire on Monday after she claimed on the US talk show that the Holocaust “wasn’t about race” when discussing a US school district’s decision to ban the graphic novel, Maus, which depicts Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, and features “inappropriate language”.

As viewers and media personalities called for the Sister Act star to be fired over her claims, which she has since apologised for, it was revealed the co-host had been temporarily axed for two weeks.

In a statement released to People, ABC News president Kim Godwin said: “Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments.

Whoopi Goldberg has been a co-host on The View since 2007 (ABC)

“While Whoopi has apologised, I’ve asked her to take time and reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organisation stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family, and communities.”

Golberg faced immediate backlash after she stated: “Let’s be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No. It’s not about race.”

When her co-hosts countered Whoopi Goldberg’s argument, the Ghost star doubled down and added: “But you’re missing the point! You’re missing the point. The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley.

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“Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s how people treat each other. That’s the problem.”

i love whoopi goldberg but saying that the holocaust “wasn’t about race” because it was “between two groups of white people” is what happens when you only see world events through an american lens

— matt (@mattxiv) February 1, 2022

Please talk to Black Jews about the Whoopi Goldberg stuff. That is all.

— Nadine Batchelor-Hunt (@nadinebh_) February 1, 2022

Whoopi Goldberg shouldn't be suspended, she should be fired.

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) February 2, 2022

This is not a criticism of her as much as it is the people at ABC who put her in that position. Kind of think that might be the issue here.

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 1, 2022

The Color Purple star added: “It doesn’t matter if you are Black or white because Black, white, Jews, Italians, everybody eats each other. So is it – if you are uncomfortable if you hear about Maus, should you be worried – should your child say, ‘Oh my God, I wonder if that’s me?’

“No. That’s not what they’re going to say. They’re going to say, ‘I don’t want to be like that.'”

Goldberg then added: “To learn about man’s inhumanity to man, however it exposes itself.”

After the initial backlash, Whoopi Goldberg released a statement to apologise and take accountability for the upset she had caused.

pic.twitter.com/KUpdyhQnho

— Whoopi Goldberg (@WhoopiGoldberg) February 1, 2022

“I should have said it is about both,” she wrote. “As Jonathan Greenblatt from 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.

“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.”