The View took an unexpected turn on Monday (January 31st) when co-host Whoopi Goldberg said the Holocaust was “not about race.”
During a segment in which they covered a Tennessee school district’s decision to ban the Pulitzer-Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, about a Holocaust survivor, Goldberg commented, “The Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”
Co-host Ana Navarro quickly responded, “Well, it’s about white supremacy. That’s what it’s about. It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies.”
Goldberg replied, “But these are two groups of white people. 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.”
The co-hosts continued to argue, at times talking over one another. Goldberg abruptly ended the conversation by turning to the camera and saying it was time for a commercial break.
Many people took to Twitter to criticize Goldberg’s remarks. The group StopAntisemitism posted a clip from the show along with the caption, “Newsflash @WhoopiGoldberg 6 million of us were gassed, starved and massacred because we were deemed an inferior race by the Nazis. How dare you minimize our trauma and suffering!”
Goldberg issued an apology on Monday night (January 31st), tweeting, in part, “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. . . . I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused.”