Whoopi Goldberg Slammed for Saying Holocaust not about Race

BoomRadioNG | February 1, 2022

Whoopi Goldberg is facing a backlash after she said on a US talk show that the Holocaust “was not about race”.

The actress and television personality said on ABC’s The View that the Nazi genocide of the Jews involved “two groups of white people”.

Monday’s discussion was sparked by a Tennessee school board’s ban of a graphic novel about Nazi death camps during World War Two.

Maus, which depicts Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, has won a number of literary awards.

The school board said it banned the book because its profanity, nudity and depiction of suicide was inappropriate for 13-year-olds.

Goldberg, a 66-year-old Oscar-winning actress who has been on The View since 2007, told her co-hosts: “I’m surprised that’s what made you uncomfortable, the fact that there was some nudity.

“I mean, it’s about the Holocaust, the killing of six million people, but that didn’t bother you?

“If you’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it. Because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race.”

Co-host Joy Behar pointed out that the Nazis said the Jews were a different race.

Whoopi Goldberg
David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Goldberg said: “But it’s not about race. It’s not. It’s about man’s inhumanity to other man.”

“But it’s about white supremacy,” responded co-host Ana Navarro. “It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies and Roma.”

“But these are two white groups of people,” countered Goldberg.

Co-host Sara Haines pointed out that the Nazis “didn’t see them as white”.

Goldberg continued: “But 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.”

Amid growing criticism, Goldberg later apologized.

Goldberg wrote in a Twitter post; “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,”.

She added; “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,”