Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from ABC‘s The View for two weeks in light of her controversial comments about the Holocaust.
ABC News president Kim Godwin confirmed the suspension on Tuesday and released a statement: “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.”
Tomorrow’s episode of The View will air with just four co-hosts: Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines and guest co-host Tara Setmayer. (UPDATE: Click here to see how the suspension was addressed on Wednesday’s show.)
The uproar began on Monday’s episode of the ABC daytime talk show, during a discussion about a Tennessee school board’s banning of the graphic novel Maus, when Goldberg said that “the Holocaust isn’t about race… it’s about man’s inhumanity to man.” Her comments sparked immediate backlash from the Jewish community and beyond, and The View welcomed several prominent representatives of the Jewish community the following day to explain why Goldberg’s comments were hurtful.
Goldberg issued an apology on Monday night: “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. As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazis’ systematic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race.’ I stand corrected. The Jewish people around the world have always had my support, and that will never waver. I’m sorry for the hurt that I have caused.”
She also discussed the controversy on Monday’s Late Show With Stephen Colbert, saying in part: “It upset a lot of people, which was never ever, ever my intention. 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. And people got very angry and still are angry. I’m getting a lot of mail from folks and a lot of real anger.”
Watch the full interview here:
