American actress and comedian, Whoopi Goldberg is facing a backlash after she said on a US talk show that the Holocaust “was not about race”.
The actress and television personality opined on ABC’s ‘The View’ that the Nazi genocide of the Jews involved “two groups of white people”. However, critics pointed out that Hitler himself had vented his hatred of the Jews in racial terms.
The Nazis, who believed themselves an Aryan “master race”, murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust.
The discussion on the show was sparked by a Tennessee school board’s ban of a graphic novel, ‘Maus’, about Nazi death camps during World War Two. ‘Maus’, which depicts Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, has won a number of literary awards. The school board noted that it banned the book because “profanity, nudity and depiction of suicide was inappropriate for 13-year-olds”.
66-year-old Oscar-winning actress, Goldberg, who has been on ‘The View’ since 2007, speaking on the issue said: “I’m surprised that’s what made you uncomfortable, the fact that there was some nudity. I mean, it’s about the Holocaust, the killing of six million people, but that didn’t bother you? 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”.
Co-host, Joy Behar pointed out that the Nazis mentioned that the Jews were a different race.
Goldberg in response to that still insisted that “it’s not about race”, and she further explained that “It’s about man’s inhumanity to other man”.
However, co-host, Ana Navarro argued that “it’s about white supremacy. It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies and Roma”.
Goldberg, who still wasn’t in agreement countered, “But these are two white groups of people”.
Co-host, Sara Haines pointed out that the Nazis “didn’t see them as white”.
Goldberg then said: “But you’re missing the point! 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”.
Critics chided the show for platforming “dangerous disinformation”. Jonathan Greenblatt, leader of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish anti-hate watchdog, tweeted: “No @WhoopiGoldberg, the #Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people – who they deemed to be an inferior race”.
According to Jonathan, the Nazis dehumanized the Jews and used racist propaganda to justify slaughtering six million Jews. He then emphasized that “Holocaust distortion is dangerous”.
Meghan McCain, a former co-host of ‘The View’, tweeted: “Antisemitism is a cancer and a poison that is increasingly excused in our culture and television – and permeates spaces that should shock us all”.
Conservative commentator, Ben Shapiro tweeted a quote from Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler: “Is not their very existence founded on one great lie, namely, that they are a religious community, whereas in reality they are a race?”
The US Holocaust Museum, in a subtweet at Goldberg, wrote: “Racism was central to Nazi ideology. Jews were not defined by religion, but by race. Nazi racist beliefs fueled genocide and mass murder”.
Amid growing criticism, Goldberg later apologized as she wrote in a Twitter post: “I said the Holocaust ‘is not about race, but about man’s inhumanity to man’. I should have said it is about both.
“The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused”.
Goldberg Whoopi
Read also: Ghanaian Students Have Paid Fees And We Demand To Be Taught- USAG
