Whoopi Goldberg apologises for her Holocaust comments
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The US talkshow host and actress made “wrong and hurtful comments” about the Holocaust during an episode of The View, on ABC News, on Monday, which led to her temporary suspension from the show. But her multiple apologies have not ended the public backlash against her, including from Mr Neil.
Ms Golderg, formerly Caryn Johnson, said: “Let’s be truthful, the Holocaust isn’t about race, it’s not. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man, that’s what it’s about. These are two groups of white people.
“You’re missing the point … let’s talk about it for what it really is. It’s about how people treat each other. It’s a problem. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, Jews … everybody eats each other.”
Mr Neil, 72, shared a Holocaust video on Twitter that came with the caption: “The millions of innocent little boys & girls who were pushed into gas chambers & suffocated to death did not fight anyone! There were no two sides here!”
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He wrote: “Watch these pictures and weep, Whoopi Goldberg.
“The Holocaust was not racism? Did the Nazis just call themselves the master race for fun?
“Not all racism is white on black. You should hand your surname back.”
Mr Neil, who is the chair of the Spectator magazine and last year put in a brief stint with GB News, kicked off a heated discussion among some of his more than one million followers on the platform, many of whom expressed “disappointment” over Ms Golderg’s “shocking ignorance”.
A New York Post column by John Podhoretz echoes Mr Neil’s remarks.
In an excruciating analysis of Ms Goldberg’s “nonsensical” words, he said: “You see, in the early 1980s, when Johnson became Goldberg, it was still commonly understood that Jews were a people apart.
“We were apart due to facts of history, due to discrimination and hatred based on our very being and — for those who practiced the faith rigorously — due to the way we ate, dressed, celebrated the Sabbath and prayed.”
The American writer concluded: “In fact, Whoopi Goldberg should just drop the Goldberg now.
“There are dozens of survivors of the Holocaust who bear the name — and an untold number who died in the Shoah with it. Caryn Johnson stains them both.”
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Ms Goldberg’s unfortunate observations came during a discussion about a Tennessee school board’s decision to ban the Pulitzer prize-winning Holocaust graphic novel Maus.
In a statement on Twitter the same day, she offered her apologies: “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 stand corrected.
“The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never (waver). I am sorry for the hurt I have caused.”
The 66-year-old Oscar-winning actress later caused further offence while attempting to explain her thoughts on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as she said the Nazis had lied and actually had issues with ethnicity, not race – which caused further controversy.
It followed another apology as well as a note from ABC News president Kim Godwin to staff on Tuesday night tha read: “Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments.
“While Whoopi has apologised, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments.
“The entire ABC News organisation stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”
Ms Godwin added in the memo first shared by the Hollywood Reporter: “These decisions are never easy, but necessary.
“Just last week I noted that the culture at ABC News is one that is driven, kind, inclusive, respectful, and transparent. Whoopi’s comments do not align with those values.”
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