ABC suspends Whoopi Goldberg over Holocaust race remarks 

By PTI

NEW YORK: Whoopi Goldberg was suspended for 2 weeks Tuesday as co-host of ‘The View’ due to what the pinnacle of ABC News known as her ‘fallacious and hurtful feedback’ about Jews and the Holocaust.

“While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities,” ABC News President Kim Godwin stated in a press release.

The suspension got here a day after Goldberg’s remark throughout a dialogue on “The View” that race was not an element within the Holocaust.

Goldberg apologized hours later and once more on Tuesday’s morning episode, however the authentic comment drew condemnation from a number of outstanding Jewish leaders.

“My words upset so many people, which was never my intention,” she stated Tuesday morning.

“I understand why now and for that I am deeply, deeply grateful because the information I got was really helpful and helped me understand some different things.”

Goldberg made her authentic feedback throughout a dialogue on the present Monday a few Tennessee college board’s banning of “Maus,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel concerning the Nazi loss of life camps throughout World War II.

She stated the Holocaust was “not about race … it’s about man’s inhumanity to other man.”

“I misspoke,” Goldberg stated on the opening of Tuesday’s present.

The flare-up over Goldberg’s remarks this week highlighted the enduring complexity of some race-related points, together with the widespread however strongly contested notion that solely folks of colour will be victims of racism.

“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” Godwin stated in her assertion.

“The View” introduced on Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League and writer of “It Could Happen Here,” on Tuesday to debate why her phrases had been hurtful.

“Jewish people at the moment are feeling besieged,” Greenblatt stated.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, affiliate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, praised Goldberg for being outspoken over time on social points however stated he struggled to know her assertion on the Holocaust.

“The only explanation that I have for it is that there is a new definition of racism that has been put out there in the public recently that defines racism exclusively as the targeting of people of color. And obviously history teaches us otherwise,” Cooper stated.

“Everything about Nazi Germany and about the targeting of the Jews and about the Holocaust was about race and racism. That’s the unfortunate, unassailable historic fact,” he stated.

Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, linked Goldberg’s remarks to broader misconceptions of the Holocaust, Jewish identification and antisemitism.

“In her error, she was reflecting a misunderstanding of Jewish identity that is both widespread and dangerous that is sometimes described as erasive antisemitism,” stated Marcus, who’s the writer of The Definition of Anti-Semitism.

“It is the notion that Jews should be viewed only as being white, privileged oppressors,” he stated.

“It denies Jewish identity and involves a whitewashing of Jewish history.”

 Marcus referred to using anti-Jewish stereotypes “about being powerful, controlling and sinister,” coupled with downplaying or denying antisemitism.

In Israel, being Jewish isn’t seen in racial phrases, partly due to the nation’s nice variety.

Yet Jewish identification goes far past faith.

Israelis sometimes check with the “Jewish people” or “Jewish nation,” describing a bunch or civilization sure collectively by a shared historical past, tradition, language and traditions and deep ties to Jewish communities abroad.

On “The View” Monday, Goldberg, who’s Black, had expressed shock that some Tennessee college board members had been uncomfortable about nudity in “Maus.”

“I mean, it’s about the Holocaust, the killing of 6 million people, but that didn’t bother you?” she stated.

“If you’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it. Because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race.” She continued on that line regardless of pushback from a few of her fellow panelists.

The U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington responded to Goldberg with a tweet.

“Racism was central to Nazi ideology. Jews were not defined by religion, but by race. Nazi racist beliefs fueled genocide and mass murder,” it stated.

That tweet additionally included a hyperlink to the museum’s on-line encyclopedia, which stated the Nazis attributed damaging stereotypes about Jews to a biologically decided racial heritage.

On Twitter, there have been a number of requires Goldberg’s firing, the place it appeared caught up within the acquainted debates between left and proper.

Greenblatt stated the discuss present, available in the market for a brand new co-host following final summer season’s departure of Meghan McCain, ought to contemplate hiring a Jewish girl to maintain the difficulty of antisemitism within the forefront.