‘I stand corrected’: Whoopi Goldberg apologizes for Holocaust comments
Whoopi Goldberg apologized for saying that the Holocaust was “not about race” — only to seemingly double down on her controversial take while trying to justify her remarks on late-night TV.
“The View” co-host initially attempted to quell the outrage over her remarks late Monday by posting a tweet that offered her “sincerest apologies.”
“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,” Goldberg 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 [sic]. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused,” she said, signing off with “sincerest apologies.”
Soon after tweeting, Goldberg, 66, appeared on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” — and repeated her initial belief that the Holocaust was not about race.
She insisted that the Nazis “had issues with ethnicity, not with race.”
“Most of the Nazis were white people and most of the people they were attacking were white people. So to me, I’m thinking, ‘How can you say it’s about race if you are fighting each other?'” she told Colbert.
“This wasn’t — I said — this wasn’t racial. This was about white on white,” she said.
“It upset a lot of people which was never, ever, ever, ever my intention,” she told Colbert.
“I thought it was a salient discussion because as a black person, I think of race as being something that I can see. So I see you and I know what race you are,” she said.
“People were very angry and they said, ‘No no, we are a race’ — and I understand,” she said, while still stressing that she “felt differently.”
“I was saying, ‘You can’t call this racism. This was evil.’ This wasn’t based on the skin — you couldn’t tell who was Jewish. They had to delve deeply to figure it out … they had to do the work,” she said.
“If you see if the Klan is coming down the street, and I’m standing with a Jewish friend — well, I’m gonna run,” she said, saying the friend would be safe “because you can’t tell who’s Jewish.”
“And I understand that not everybody sees it that way. And that I did a lot of harm, I guess to myself,” she said, complaining about being branded anti-Semitic and a Holocaust denier, insisting she is “actually not.”
“I’m incredibly torn up by being told these things about myself.
“I get it. Folks are angry. I accept that and I did it to myself. This was my thought process and I will work hard not to think that way again,” she said.
“I get it. I’m going to take your word for it and never bring it up again,” she concluded.
Goldberg first argued that the Holocaust went beyond race during a discussion on “The View” about a Tennessee school district’s decision to ban the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus,” about a Holocaust survivor.
“The Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race,” Goldberg said repeatedly. “It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”
Co-host Ana Navarro quickly disagreed, interrupting Goldberg and insisting “it’s about white supremacy. That’s what it’s about. It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies.”
“But these are two groups of white people,” Goldberg shot back. “You’re missing the point. 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. It’s a problem. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white because black, white, Jews, Italians, everybody eats each other.”
Many of the hosts talked over each other during the turbulent discussion, which awkwardly and abruptly ended when Goldberg, while everyone else was still speaking, turned to the camera to declare it time for a commercial break.
Goldberg received immediate backlash as a result of her comments, including from Anti-Defamation League CEO Greenblatt, whom Goldberg acknowledged in her apology.
“No @WhoopiGoldberg, the #Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people – 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 dangerous. #ENOUGH.”
Liora Rez, executive director of watchdog group StopAntisemitism, called Goldberg’s comments “reprehensible.”
“I am the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors on both sides of my family. To say that the Holocaust was not about race when everything the Nazis did was to ensure the purity of the Aryan race is blatantly untrue, and it is reprehensible,” said Rez. “Six million Jews were gassed, starved and massacred because we were deemed an inferior race. For Goldberg to minimize our trauma and suffering by claiming we are from a privileged class is the epitome of whitewashing and gaslighting Jews, and it needs to stop.”
Greenblatt thanked Goldberg for her apology in another tweet Monday night, sent before her Colbert appearance.
“Thanks @WhoopiGoldberg for correcting your prior statement and acknowledging the #Holocaust for what it was,” he wrote. “As #antisemitism surges to historic levels, I hope we can work together to combat ignorance of that horrific crime and the hate that threatens all.”