‘I stand corrected’: Whoopi Goldberg apologizes for Holocaust comments

Whoopi Goldberg apologized for saying that the Holocaust was “not about race” — solely to seemingly double down on her controversial take whereas attempting to justify her remarks on late-night TV.

“The View” co-host initially tried to quell the outrage over her remarks late Monday by posting a tweet that provided her “sincerest apologies.”

“On Right this moment’s present, I mentioned the Holocaust ‘will not be about race, however about man’s inhumanity to man.’ I ought to have mentioned it's about each,” Goldberg wrote.

“As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was in regards to the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish folks — who they deemed to be an inferior race.’ I stand corrected.

“The Jewish folks world wide have at all times had my help and that can by no means waiver [sic]. I’m sorry for the harm I've brought about,” she mentioned, signing off with “sincerest apologies.”

Whoopi on Colbert
Whoopi Goldberg appeared on the Stephen Colbert present hours after her controversial remarks.
CBS

Quickly after tweeting, Goldberg, 66, appeared on “The Late Present With Stephen Colbert” — and repeated her preliminary perception that the Holocaust was not about race.

She insisted that the Nazis “had points with ethnicity, not with race.”

“A lot of the Nazis have been white folks and most people they have been attacking have been white folks. So to me, I’m pondering, ‘How will you say it’s about race if you're preventing one another?'” she informed Colbert.

“This wasn’t — I mentioned — this wasn’t racial. This was about white on white,” she mentioned. 

Whoopi on Colbert
Whereas on Colbert’s present, Goldberg repeated her perception that the Nazis had “points with ethnicity, not with race.”
CBS

“It upset lots of people which was by no means, ever, ever, ever my intention,” she informed Colbert. 

“I believed it was a salient dialogue as a result of as a black individual, I consider race as being one thing that I can see. So I see you and I do know what race you're,” she mentioned.

“Individuals have been very offended and so they mentioned, ‘No no, we're a race’ — and I perceive,” she mentioned, whereas nonetheless stressing that she “felt otherwise.”

“I used to be saying, ‘You'll be able to’t name this racism. This was evil.’ This wasn’t primarily based on the pores and skin — you couldn’t inform who was Jewish. They needed to delve deeply to determine it out … they needed to do the work,” she mentioned.

Two books of the graphic novel "Maus" by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman.
Goldberg’s feedback got here throughout a dialogue about how a Tennessee college district banned the Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust graphic novel “Maus.”
REUTERS

“In the event you see if the Klan is coming down the road, and I’m standing with a Jewish buddy — nicely, I’m gonna run,” she mentioned, saying the buddy could be secure “as a result of you possibly can’t inform who’s Jewish.”

“And I perceive that not all people sees it that method. And that I did plenty of hurt, I suppose to myself,” she mentioned, complaining about being branded anti-Semitic and a Holocaust denier, insisting she is “really not.”

“I’m extremely torn up by being informed these items about myself.

Whoopie on the View
As her co-hosts argued towards her factors, Goldberg insisted that the genocide was between “two teams of white folks.”
ABC

“I get it. People are offended. I settle for that and I did it to myself. This was my thought course of and I'll work onerous to not suppose that method once more,” she mentioned.

“I get it. I’m going to take your phrase for it and by no means carry it up once more,” she concluded.

Goldberg first argued that the Holocaust went past race throughout a dialogue on “The View” a couple of Tennessee college district’s choice to ban the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus,” a couple of Holocaust survivor.

“The Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race,” Goldberg mentioned repeatedly. “It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.” 

auschwitz
Auschwitz opened in 1940 and was the most important Nazi focus camp.
Gamma-Rapho by way of Getty Photos

Co-host Ana Navarro rapidly disagreed, interrupting Goldberg and insisting “it’s about white supremacy. That’s what it’s about. It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies.”

“However these are two teams of white folks,” Goldberg shot again. “You’re lacking the purpose. The minute you flip it into race, it goes down this alley. Let’s discuss it for what it's. It’s how folks deal with one another. It’s an issue. It doesn’t matter when you’re black or white as a result of black, white, Jews, Italians, all people eats one another.”

Most of the hosts talked over one another through the turbulent dialogue, which awkwardly and abruptly ended when Goldberg, whereas everybody else was nonetheless talking, turned to the digital camera to declare it time for a business break.

Goldberg acquired rapid backlash on account of her feedback, together with from Anti-Defamation League CEO Greenblatt, whom Goldberg acknowledged in her apology.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of Anti-Defamation League (ADL), speaks at the announcement of a civil lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia (DC) Attorney General against the Proud Boys.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt criticized Goldberg’s feedback on Twitter, stating that the Nazis deemed Jewish folks to be an inferior race.
Michael Brochstein/SOPA Photos/S

“No @WhoopiGoldberg, the #Holocaust was in regards to the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish folks – who they deemed to be an inferior race,” he tweeted. “They dehumanized them and used this racist propaganda to justify slaughtering 6 million Jews. Holocaust distortion is harmful. #ENOUGH.”

Liora Rez, govt director of watchdog group StopAntisemitism, known as Goldberg’s feedback “reprehensible.”

“I'm the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors on each side of my household. To say that the Holocaust was not about race when all the pieces the Nazis did was to make sure the purity of the Aryan race is blatantly unfaithful, and it's reprehensible,” mentioned Rez. “Six million Jews have been gassed, starved and massacred as a result of we have been deemed an inferior race. For Goldberg to attenuate our trauma and struggling by claiming we're from a privileged class is the epitome of whitewashing and gaslighting Jews, and it must cease.”

A group of Jewish civilians being held at gunpoint by German SS troops.
Goldberg prolonged her “sincerest apologies” after Jewish leaders criticized her remarks on “The View.”
ullstein bild by way of Getty Photos

Greenblatt thanked Goldberg for her apology in one other tweet Monday evening, despatched earlier than her Colbert look.

“Thanks @WhoopiGoldberg for correcting your prior assertion and acknowledging the #Holocaust for what it was,” he wrote. “As #antisemitism surges to historic ranges, I hope we will work collectively to fight ignorance of that horrific crime and the hate that threatens all.”

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