Almost exactly 11 months ago, Whoopi Goldberg was temporarily suspended from The View for comments she had made about the Holocaust on the air. She had suggested that the Holocaust “was not about race” specifically, which drew a significant backlash and prompted Goldberg to talk it out with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show and to later issue an apology. She also said at the time that she was going to take what everyone had said to her and would “never bring it up again.”
Well, she brought it up again. Or, to be more accurate, The Times brought it up again and she responded by reiterating the comments from February that got her in so much trouble. The Times interviewer brought up Goldberg’s Holocaust comments and noted that “Nazis saw Jews as a race,” to which Goldberg responded, “Yes, but that’s the killer, isn’t it? The oppressor is telling you what you are. Why are you believing them? They’re Nazis. Why believe what they’re saying?” She also mentioned that the Nazis started by “killing people they considered to be mentally defective” and “then they made this decision [to kill Jewish people].”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League responded on Twitter by saying that Goldberg’s comments were “deeply offensive and incredibly ignorant,” going on to explain that “the Nazi regime was inherently racist” in a thread.
But now, courtesy of Deadline, Goldberg has explained in a statement that she didn’t mean to double-down on her comments from before and was merely trying to “recount” what had happened before. “I’m still learning a lot and believe me,” she explained, “I heard everything everyone said to me. I believe the Holocaust was about race, and I am still as sorry now as I was then.” You can read her full statement below.
Recently while doing press in London, I was asked about my comments from earlier this year. I tried to convey to the reporter what I had said and why, and attempted to recount that time. It was never my intention to appear as if I was doubling down on hurtful comments, especially after talking with and hearing people like rabbis and old and new friends weighing in. I’m still learning a lot and believe me, I heard everything everyone said to me. I believe that the Holocaust was about race, and I am still as sorry now as I was then that I upset, hurt and angered people. My sincere apologies again, especially to everyone who thought this was a fresh rehash of the subject. I promise it was not. In this time of rising antisemitism, I want to be very clear when I say that I always stood with the Jewish people and always will. My support for them has not wavered and never will.