ABC has suspended co-host of “The View” Whoopi Goldberg over her comments about the Holocaust.
ABC News President Kim Godwin issued a statement announcing the suspension.
“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,” Godwin said.
She added, “The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, families and communities.”
— ABC News PR (@ABCNewsPR) February 2, 2022
During an episode of the show Monday, Goldberg claimed the Holocaust is “not about race.”
“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. That’s the problem. It doesn’t matter if you are Black or White, because Black, White, Jews, Italians, everybody eats each other,” Goldberg said.
She later sought to clarify her remarks during an interview with Stephen Colbert, as IJR reported.
“I feel, being Black, when we talk about race it’s a very different thing to me. So I said I thought the Holocaust wasn’t about race. People got very, very, very angry and still are angry. I mean, I’m getting a lot of mail from folks and very real anger,” Goldberg said.
She suggested it was “a salient discussion because as a Black person I think of race as being something that I can see.”
Saying she did not want to “fake apologize,” Goldberg continued, “I am very upset that people misunderstood what I was saying. And because of it they are saying I am anti-Semitic, and denying the Holocaust, and all these other things that would never occur to me to do.”