ABC News has suspended Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks after she said on air that the Holocaust was “not about race.” The network confirmed her suspension on Tuesday night.
“The View” co-host, who’s been with the show since 2007, commented during Monday's episode, “this is white people doing it to white people,” while discussing a Tennessee school district's decision to ban “Maus,” on the grounds that it showed nudity, profanity and suicide. “Maus” is a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel that depicts the horrors of the Holocaust.
In a note to staff, Kim Goodwin, ABC News president wrote: "Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments.
"While Whoopi has apologized, I've asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments.”
Amid backlash, the 66-year-old Oscar-winning actress released her apology within hours the same day, that read, “As Jonathan Greenblatt from the anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi's systemic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race.’... I'm sorry for the hurt I have caused.”
