Whoopi Goldberg suspended by ABC over Holocaust remarks

[Sarzy]

Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from a US talk show after saying the Holocaust involved "two groups of white people".



ABC News said Goldberg would be off-air for two weeks after her "wrong and hurtful comments".

The actress and TV personality said on ABC's The View that the Nazi genocide of the Jews was "not about race".
She apologised but then caused further offence while attempting to explain her remarks on a late-night show.

In a note to staff on Tuesday night, ABC News president Kim Godwin 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."
"These decisions are never easy, but necessary," she added in the memo, reported the Hollywood Reporter.
"Just last week I noted that the culture at ABC News is one that is driven, kind, inclusive, respectful, and transparent. Whoopi's comments do not align with those values."
'Words matter'

Earlier on Tuesday, Goldberg issued her third public apology.
"Yesterday on the show I misspoke," she said to open the talk show.
"[The Holocaust] is indeed about race, because Hitler and the Nazis considered the Jews to be an inferior race.
"Now, words matter, and mine are no exception. I regret my comments and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people."

The 66-year-old Oscar-winning actress, who has been on The View since 2007, first made the controversial comments on Monday's show while discussing a Tennessee school board's banning of a graphic novel about the Holocaust on the grounds that it showed nudity, profanity and suicide.

Amid the uproar, she released an apology hours later.

But on CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday night, while attempting to clarify her comments, she said the Nazis had lied and actually had issues with ethnicity not race, which caused further offence.

It is not the first time Goldberg has caused controversy.

She said in 2009 that film director Roman Polanksi - who pleaded guilty to "unlawful sex with a minor" in 1977 - was not guilty of "rape-rape".

She also defended Bill Cosby as he faced sexual assault allegations, before reversing course amid a backlash.


www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60225196

[trixie]

I'm surprised they suspended her, ABC seems to really kiss her ass because she's EGOT Whoopi Goldberg. I did see her apology yesterday and they also had a Holocaust expert on to talk, so I thought they were done with it. Her initial comments were really ignorant and when her co-hosts nicely tried to correct her, she just doubled down. But she frequently says stupid things and her ego won't let anyone correct her. I bet she is more PISSED than sorry. She was still defending her comments on Colbert, and I'm sure she was forced to make that apology the following morning.

[notoriousmkg]

It is such a weird hill to almost die on. Nazi Germans and Ashkenazi Jews are both Caucasians, but definitely distinct by surnames, religion, style of dress, even diet and areas where they lived. Obviously, she wasn't excusing or denying the Holocaust, since it seemed like she said it was more of an example of "Man's inhumanity to man." What is the point of making that kind of distinction? Even now, Jewish people can be targeted based on where they worship, go to school, or recognizable names.

[loftybike]

Well, the Nazis called aryans "Herrenrasse" and everyone else "Unterrasse", but why would that be about race and why would Whoopi care?

[no]

I feel like The View ought to just let Whoopi go. it seems like she's always apologizing because all she does is say stupid shit.

[trixie]

Yeah, they barely addressed it on today's show. Joy opened with something like "well you've all read the news, Whoopi will be back in 2 weeks, on to hot topics!"

[coppercatseye]

She really does say stupid things. At least they’re finally suspending her for it.

[ravenna]

Feb 2, 2022 12:28:18 GMT trixie said:

I bet she is more PISSED than sorry. She was still defending her comments on Colbert, and I'm sure she was forced to make that apology the following morning.

Yep.  Even after getting a lot of feedback, she still went on Colbert, doubled down, making herself look even worse, and said she didn't want to make a fake apology.  Then the next day she makes a fake apology.  It's almost amusing and I still don't know what point this ignoramus was trying to make.  She prefaced her comments by saying "let's be honest" as though it's some lie people have been perpetuating.

[louiswinthorpe111]

Maybe to Whoopi, all white people look the same!

[czb]

we don't??

[trixie]

I read an article (I think it was New York Post) that said Whoopi is LIVID and threatening to quit. I knew it. Her ego can't take it and she is humiliated that she is being questioned or punished.

I was thinking, one ironic thing here is, she chose a Jewish surname as her stage name. Her real name is Caryn Johnson.

[constancespry]

I can kind of see where she was coming from with this. As she has probably personally experienced as an African American lady, much bigotry and discrimination is based on obvious physical characteristics like darker skin or specific facial features (for example, Asians who are increasingly victims of verbal and physical assault since the pandemic started) which cannot be hidden, even if the individual blends in otherwise. Whereas many Jewish people in Nazi Germany completely blended in physically, until the nazis came along. But since race is a social construct, and nazis decided to consider Jewish people an "inferior race", their physical appearance did not matter.

[czb]

Feb 3, 2022 20:22:35 GMT constancespry said:

I can kind of see where she was coming from with this. As she has probably personally experienced as an African American lady, much bigotry and discrimination is based on obvious physical characteristics like darker skin or specific facial features (for example, Asians who are increasingly victims of verbal and physical assault since the pandemic started) which cannot be hidden, even if the individual blends in otherwise. Whereas many Jewish people in Nazi Germany completely blended in physically, until the nazis came along. But since race is a social construct, and nazis decided to consider Jewish people an "inferior race", their physical appearance did not matter.

wut? i can't see where she's coming from. and she doesn't get a pass because she's black. a lot of the anti-jewish propaganda was based on caricatures of what the nazis thought jewish people looked like. some jews in EU probably fit some physical stereotype and some did not.

www.historyhit.com/anti-jewish-propaganda-in-nazi-germany/

i can't copy the posters but some appear in the above link. 

what she said is one of the most offensive things i've heard in a while. and i've heard a lot.

[constancespry]

Feb 3, 2022 21:58:02 GMT czb said:

Feb 3, 2022 20:22:35 GMT constancespry said:

I can kind of see where she was coming from with this. As she has probably personally experienced as an African American lady, much bigotry and discrimination is based on obvious physical characteristics like darker skin or specific facial features (for example, Asians who are increasingly victims of verbal and physical assault since the pandemic started) which cannot be hidden, even if the individual blends in otherwise. Whereas many Jewish people in Nazi Germany completely blended in physically, until the nazis came along. But since race is a social construct, and nazis decided to consider Jewish people an "inferior race", their physical appearance did not matter.

wut? i can't see where she's coming from. and she doesn't get a pass because she's black. a lot of the anti-jewish propaganda was based on caricatures of what the nazis thought jewish people looked like. some jews in EU probably fit some physical stereotype and some did not.

www.historyhit.com/anti-jewish-propaganda-in-nazi-germany/

i can't copy the posters but some appear in the above link. 

what she said is one of the most offensive things i've heard in a while. and i've heard a lot.

I am sorry you are offended by what I wrote, that wasn't my intent. Just to clarify, while I can see where she was coming from, I don't agree with her statement.

[czb]

^^^ hey, i'm not offended.

i'm just saying that i don't agree with that reasoning, if that is why she said what she said.