The actress has been heavily criticised by activists online.
Whoopi Goldberg has offered her “sincerest apologies” after making controversial comments about the Holocaust.
The View host came under fire for stating that the historic atrocity was “not about race” but about “man’s inhumanity to man”.
The comments were made on The View during a conversation about a Tennessee school board’s decision to ban the novel Maus – a book about one man’s life experience as a Polish Jew and a Holocaust survivor.
“Let’s be truthful, the Holocaust isn’t about race, it’s not,” she had said.
“It’s about man’s inhumanity to man, that’s what it’s about. These are two groups of white people.
“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…”
She has now issued a statement apologising for the offence she caused, adding that she has always supported Jewish people around the world.
“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 (ADL) shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi’s [sic] systematic annihilation of the Jewish people – who they deemed to be an inferior race’. I stand corrected.
https://twitter.com/WhoopiGoldberg/status/1488320164517101574?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1488320164517101574%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rte.ie%2Fentertainment%2F2022%2F0201%2F1277028-whoopi-goldberg-apologises-for-holocaust-comments%2F
“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.
“Written with my sincerest apologies. Whoopi Goldberg.”
Whoopi’s original comments were condemned by activists online, labelled as “dangerous” and “damaging”.
StopAntisemitism.org said her words had “minimised” the trauma and suffering caused to Jewish people by the atrocity.
“Newsflash @WhoopiGoldberg – six million of us were gassed, starved and massacred because we were deemed an inferior race by the Nazis,” the organisation wrote.
“How dare you minimise our trauma and suffering.”
