Co-host Whoopi Goldberg caused chaos on ABC’s “The View” Monday when she insisted that the Holocaust was “not about race.”
While discussing a Tennessee school district’s recent ban of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus,” about a Holocaust survivor, Goldberg argued that the genocide was broader than a race-based injustice.
“The Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race,” Goldberg, 66, said repeatedly. “It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”
Other “View” co-hosts were quick to disagree. “Well, it’s about white supremacy. That’s what it’s about,” interrupted political strategist Ana Navarro. “It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies.”
“But these are two groups of white people,” retorted Goldberg. “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. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white because black, white, Jews, Italians, everybody eats each other.”
Bringing it back to the Art Spiegelman book in question, Goldberg went on: “If you hear about ‘Maus,’ should you be worried? 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.’”
In the brief but tumultuous discussion, in which the co-hosts can at points barely be understood over one another, Joy Behar noted that the Nazis considered Jewish people to be “a different race,” the Daily Beast noted.
At another point, Navarro emphasized the importance of teaching children about the Holocaust, noting that it has been evoked by anti-vaxxers to compare Nazis forcing people to wear “Jewish badges” with COVID-19 vaccination mandates requiring people to show their vaccine cards.
“So it is necessary for kids to learn about the Holocaust,” said Navarro.
The discussion ended awkwardly when Goldberg, while everyone else was still speaking, turned to the camera to declare it time for a commercial break.
Goldberg is typically a voice of reason on the panel, offering a well-timed eye roll or strategic non-reaction. However, these offensive remarks garnered swift backlash.
Liora Rez, executive director of watchdog group StopAntisemitism, called Goldberg’s comments “reprehensible.”
“I am the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors on both sides of my family. To say that the Holocaust was not about race when everything the Nazis did was to ensure the purity of the Aryan race is blatantly untrue, and it is reprehensible,” said Rez. “Six million Jews were gassed, starved and massacred because we were deemed an inferior race. For Goldberg to minimize our trauma and suffering by claiming we are from a privileged class is the epitome of whitewashing and gaslighting Jews, and it needs to stop.”
Twitter was quick to call out Goldberg’s remarks as well.
Goldberg’s reps have not responded to The Post’s request for comment.
