Whoopi Goldberg is under fire for saying that “the Holocaust isn’t about race” during a January 31 segment on ABC’s “The View.”
The segment focused on a Tennessee school board voting to remove the book “Maus” from their 8th grade curriculum. The book is a graphic novel about the Holocaust depicting the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats. The board decided to remove the book due to its use of inappropriate language and nudity and will be looking for a different book to teach students about the Holocaust.
Goldberg said, “Let’s be truthful about it… the Holocaust isn’t about race.” Co-host Joy Behar responded that the Nazis “considered Jews a different race” but Goldberg doubled down. When Behar asked her what the Holocaust is about, Goldberg replied: “It’s about man’s inhumanity to man. That’s what it’s about.”
Co-host Ana Navarro then interjected that the Holocaust is “about white supremacy” and “going after Jews and Gypsies and Romas.” “But these are two white groups of people,” Goldberg countered. Behar pointed that the Nazis “went after Black people too.”
“You’re missing the point,” Goldberg said. “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 are Black or white because Black, white, Jews, Italians, everybody eats each other… if you are uncomfortable if you hear about ‘Maus’… 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.’”
Navarro then pointed to the fact that various people have compared “vaccine cards to the yellow stars, where people are comparing vaccinations to what Anne Frank went through. So, it is necessary for kids to learn about the Holocaust.” Goldberg then said, “To learn about man’s inhumanity to man however it exposes itself.”
Sparks fly as The View panel confronts Whoopi after she says "the Holocaust isn't about race. No. It's not about race."
"Well, the considered Jews a different race," Joy Behar says."But it's about white supremacy. It's about going after Jews and Gypsies," Ana Navarro adds. pic.twitter.com/GZwZSi2qXi
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 31, 2022
This clip of Whoopi Goldberg saying that the Holocaust was not about race is a great reminder that there have only been two Jewish co-hosts in the 25-year history of @TheView, and none since 2016. pic.twitter.com/ZlHBetzTfI
— Melissa Weiss (@melissaeweiss) January 31, 2022
Jewish groups denounced Goldberg’s remarks.
“The #Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people – who they deemed to be an inferior race,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted.“They dehumanized them and used this racist propaganda to justify slaughtering 6 million Jews. Holocaust distortion is dangerous.”
No @WhoopiGoldberg, the #Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people – who they deemed to be an inferior race. They dehumanized them and used this racist propaganda to justify slaughtering 6 million Jews. Holocaust distortion is dangerous. #ENOUGH https://t.co/koS1kuspqV
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) January 31, 2022
Associate Director and Dean of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper told the Journal in a phone interview, “Everything about Nazi Germany from the beginning––before there was a Nazi Germany but in the mind of Hitler and others––everything was about race. The Aryan race. There was a hierarchy, just above the Jews were the Slavs and the Poles, etc. etc. The Holocaust, the Final Solution, everything about the Nazis was about race.”
He added: “How is it possible that someone as intelligent and empathetic as Whoopi Goldberg can say that it wasn’t? The only thing I can think of is: there’s a new definition of racism that’s going around that seems to say that racism is only applicable when the targets are people of color. And I guess if that’s the current definition that some people are operating under, then maybe they can come to the conclusion that the Jews weren’t targeted because of race. But with the greatest of respect, it’s simply not the case. It was not the case then, it was not the case today.” Cooper pointed to how in Africa, there have been instances of “people in power who are racists and happen to be Black and are targeting people of color from India or whites. And so in terms of what racism is really all about, then clearly the Holocaust was caused by an ideology that was based solely on race and racism. Therefore, the context of what [Goldberg] had to say simply is not accurate.”
Stop Antisemitism tweeted to Goldberg: “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!”
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! pic.twitter.com/nD8drxWpxJ
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 31, 2022
Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro tweeted that Goldberg’s comments are “insidious” because they downplay “the minority status of Jews in order to uphold bullshit intersectional arguments that justify anti-Semitism today.” “The intersectional argument is that Jews are white people, and that Jews are disproportionately successful thanks to ‘white supremacy,’” he wrote. “Because racism is ‘animus plus power,’ and Jews are powerful because they are white, anti-Semitism from non-white supremacists isn’t bigotry. This logic is why the Left will condemn anti-Semitic attacks like the one at the Tree of Life but quickly memory hole anti-Semitic attacks by Black Hebrew Israelites in NJ or radical Muslims in TX.”
Whoopi Goldberg explaining that the Holocaust wasn't about race because these were "two groups of white people" isn't just insipid, it's insidious. It's downplaying the minority status of Jews in order to uphold bullshit intersectional arguments that justify anti-Semitism today.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 31, 2022
The intersectional argument is that Jews are white people, and that Jews are disproportionately successful thanks to "white supremacy." Because racism is "animus plus power," and Jews are powerful because they are white, anti-Semitism from non-white supremacists isn't bigotry.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 31, 2022
This logic is why the Left will condemn anti-Semitic attacks like the one at the Tree of Life but quickly memory hole anti-Semitic attacks by Black Hebrew Israelites in NJ or radical Muslims in TX.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 31, 2022
Ellie Cohanim, Former Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism and Independent Women’s Forum, tweeted that Goldberg “could use some education on the Holocaust. Hitler’s entire propaganda machine spewed the message that Jews were an inferior race to Germans who were a pure ‘Aryan race.’ And then they murdered six million Jews based on this belief.”
Shame on Whoopi Goldberg, apparently she could use some education on the Holocaust.
Hitler’s entire propaganda machine spewed the message that Jews were an inferior race to Germans who were a pure “Aryan race.” And then they murdered six million Jews based on this belief. https://t.co/U3U5nGTRPP— Ellie Cohanim (@EllieCohanim) January 31, 2022
Dumisani Washington, Founder and CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, tweeted: “So, the Nazi propagandists that called Jews vermin, performed eugenicist experiments on them, and sought to exterminate them weren’t actually focused on Jews. Got it.” In a later tweet, he argued that “if someone told Whoopi Goldberg that the TransAtlantic Slave Trade, Jim Crow segregation, and the KKK weren’t really about ‘race’ but about ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ she’d have a conniption fit.”
So, the Nazi propagandists that called Jews vermin, performed eugenicist experiments on them, and sought to exterminate them weren’t actually focused on Jews.
Got it. https://t.co/h4YNDpnzS5
— Dumisani Washington (@DumisaniTemsgen) January 31, 2022
If someone told Whoopi Goldberg that the TransAtlantic Slave Trade, Jim Crow segregation, and the KKK weren't really about "race" but about "man's inhumanity to man" she'd have a conniption fit.
— Dumisani Washington (@DumisaniTemsgen) January 31, 2022
Journalist Eve Barlow tweeted, “Whoopi Goldberg’s outburst is exactly why I have a problem with Jewish identity incorporating new terms in order to re-categorize us. Jewish identity doesn’t fit into non-Jewish ideas of racism and racial profiling.”
Whoopi Goldberg's outburst is exactly why I have a problem with Jewish identity incorporating new terms in order to re-categorize us. Jewish identity doesn't fit into non-Jewish ideas of racism and racial profiling.
— Eve Barlow (@Eve_Barlow) January 31, 2022
Blogger Perez Hilton tweeted, “I love Whoopi Goldberg, but this take of hers on the Nazis and the Holocaust is… not it. Her The View cohosts were trying to guide her out of this hole. She just dug in even deeper!”
I love Whoopi Goldberg, but this take of hers on the Nazis and the Holocaust is… not it. Her The View cohosts were trying to guide her out of this hole. She just dug in even deeper! 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/YKv1cSHdrS
— Perez (@ThePerezHilton) January 31, 2022
Quotes from The View provided by transcript from Newsbusters.
UPDATE: Goldberg issued an apology posted to Twitter, acknowledging that Greenblatt was right. “The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waver,” she wrote. “I’m sorry for the hurt I’ve caused.”
https://twitter.com/WhoopiGoldberg/status/1488320164517101574?s=20&t=rsdnHZQrBStQKjchBxDo4A
