Whoopi Goldberg Apologizes for Unintended ‘Rehash’ of ‘Offensive’ Holocaust Comment

Whoopi Goldberg is apologizing, once again, for her comments about the Holocaust.

In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, Goldberg appeared to repeat her past controversial view that the Holocaust “wasn’t originally” about race, immediately garnering backlash from Jewish leaders who quickly denounced the star’s “ignorant” words.

“My best friend said, ‘Not for nothing is there no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we’re probably not a race,’ ” Goldberg said in the Dec. 24 interview, sharing her previous belief that Nazis had targeted Jewish people for “physical attributes” as opposed to racial ones.

“Nazis saw Jews as a race,” the reporter told Goldberg, to which The View host responded, “Yes, but that’s the killer, isn’t it? The oppressor is telling you what you are. Why are you believing them? They’re Nazis. Why believe what they’re saying?” 

In a new statement sent to Rolling Stone, Goldberg clarified that she was simply trying to “recount” what she had said earlier this year on The View — which led to a two-week suspension from the show at the time — and not doubling down in her beliefs.

“It was never my intention to appear as if I was doubling down on hurtful comments, especially after talking with and hearing people like rabbis and old and new friends weighing in,” Goldberg said in the statement. “I’m still learning a lot and believe me, I heard everything everyone said to me. I believe that the Holocaust was about race, and I am still as sorry now as I was then that I upset, hurt and angered people.”

Goldberg added, “My sincere apologies again, especially to everyone who thought this was a fresh rehash of the subject. I promise it was not. In this time of rising antisemitism, I want to be very clear when I say that I always stood with the Jewish people and always will. My support for them has not wavered and never will.”

The Sunday Times interview was immediately met with backlash online, including from Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who condemned Goldberg’s comments in a Twitter thread Tuesday.

“Yet again, #WhoopiGoldberg’s comments about the Holocaust and race are deeply offensive and incredibly ignorant,” Greenblatt wrote. “When she made similar comments earlier this year, we explained how the Nazi regime was inherently racist.”

“Whoopi’s comments show a complete lack of awareness of the multiethnic, multiracial makeup of the Jewish community,” he added. “She needs to apologize immediately and actually commit to educating herself on the true nature of #antisemitism.”

Soon after the publication of the Sunday Times interview, the Auschwitz Memorial shared a screengrab of a letter from Adolf Hitler in 1919, where he specifically wrote, “Jews are definitely a race” and described Jewish people as an “alien race.”

“Stop claiming the Holocaust wasn’t about race,” wrote David Harris, the former CEO of the American Jewish Council, sharing Aushwitz Memorial’s tweet. “It was all about race. Please get a grip & move on.”

Back in February, ABC News president Kim Godwin suspended Goldberg for her “wrong and hurtful comments” about the holocaust. “I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments,” Godwin wrote.

During an episode of The View the previous month, Goldberg insisted that the “Holocaust wasn’t about race” while the hosts had a discussion about a Tennessee school district’s decision to ban Maus, the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel centering on the horrific experiences of a Holocaust survivor.

After the backlash, Goldberg apologized on her now-deleted Twitter account. “The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waver,” Goldberg wrote at the time. “I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused. Written with my sincerest apologies.”

This story was updated at 4:53 pm ET to include Whoopi Goldberg’s apology.

From Rolling Stone US.