Whoopi Goldberg sparks backlash after ‘reprehensible’ Holocaust comments

Whoopi Goldberg has sparked outrage on her US talk show after she made “reprehensible” comments about the Holocaust.

Whoopi Goldberg has caused chaos on US talk show The View after insisting that the Holocaust was “not about race.”

During an on-air discussion about a Tennessee school district’s recent ban of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, which is about a Holocaust survivor, Goldberg argued that the genocide was broader than a race-based injustice, NY Post reports.

“The Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race,” Goldberg, 66, said repeatedly. “It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”

Other View co-hosts were quick to disagree.

“Well, it’s about white supremacy. That’s what it’s about,” interrupted political strategist Ana Navarro. “It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies.”

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

Whoopi Goldberg has been slammed for her Holocaust comments.

Bringing it back to the Art Spiegelman book in question, Goldberg went on: “If you hear about Maus, should you be worried? Should your child say, ‘Oh my God, I wonder if that’s me’? No. That’s not what they’re going to say. They’re going to say, ‘I don’t want to be like that.’”

In the brief but tumultuous discussion, in which the co-hosts could at points barely be understood over one another, Joy Behar noted that the Nazis considered Jewish people to be “a different race,” the Daily Beast noted.

At another point, Navarro emphasised the importance of teaching children about the Holocaust, noting that it has been evoked by anti-vaxxers to compare Nazis forcing people to wear “Jewish badges” with Covid-19 vaccination mandates requiring people to show their vaccine cards.

“So it is necessary for kids to learn about the Holocaust,” said Navarro.

The discussion ended awkwardly when Goldberg, while everyone else was still speaking, turned to the camera to declare it time for a commercial break.

Whoopi’s panellists disagreed with her statements.

Goldberg is typically a voice of reason on the panel, offering a well-timed eye roll or strategic non-reaction. However, these offensive remarks garnered swift backlash.

Liora Rez, executive director of watchdog group StopAntisemitism, called Goldberg’s comments “reprehensible.”

“I am the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors on both sides of my family. To say that the Holocaust was not about race when everything the Nazis did was to ensure the purity of the Aryan race is blatantly untrue, and it is reprehensible,” said Rez.

“Six million Jews were gassed, starved and massacred because we were deemed an inferior race. For Goldberg to minimise our trauma and suffering by claiming we are from a privileged class is the epitome of whitewashing and gaslighting Jews, and it needs to stop.”

Twitter was quick to call out Goldberg’s remarks as well:

Whoopi Goldberg’s comments reinforce how many see Jews and Judaism as simply a concept, a subject of academia or history, not real people with real families and real pasts. We are but a concept or subject of discussion for so many, and that’s it.

— Rabbi Mike Harvey (@RabbiHarvey) January 31, 2022

You all remember when ABC fired Rosanne Barr because of a tweet. So, what is ABC going to do about Whoopi Goldberg and her rhetoric?

— Diamond and Silk® (@DiamondandSilk) January 31, 2022

Dear Whoopi Goldberg,

If the Holocaust wasn't about race why did the "master race" murder six million European Jews?

— Matthew Kolken (@mkolken) January 31, 2022

Goldberg’s reps have not responded to request for comment.

Goldberg herself is yet to make a statement regarding the backlash.

This story originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced here with permission