Whoopi Goldberg acknowledges the Holocaust was 'indeed about race' in discussion with Anti-Defamation League CEO

The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League joined The View for a discussion about anti-Semitism Tuesday, one day after co-host Whoopi Goldberg controversially claimed the Holocaust was "not about race."

Goldberg again apologized at the start of The View for making this claim about the Holocaust a day earlier, saying she "misspoke" and now realizes the Holocaust was "indeed about race because Hitler and the Nazis considered Jews to be an inferior race." She then introduced Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, and asked him to explain to The View why she was wrong.

"There's no question that the Holocaust was about race," Greenblatt said. "That's how the Nazis saw it as they perpetrated the systematic annihilation of the Jewish people across continents, across countries, with deliberate and ruthless cruelty."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Greenblatt went on to explain that Jewish people have been persecuted "in large part because many people felt they were not just a different religion, but indeed a different race," adding that The View is an "important" platform to remind viewers that "anti-Semitism remains a clear and present danger."

Prior to releasing an apology on Monday night, Goldberg taped an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in which she appeared less contrite, saying she didn't "want to fake-apologize" and was "very upset that people misunderstood what I was saying." She later released a statement saying she was "sorry for the hurt I have caused," and she cited a rebuttal from Greenblatt to note that "I stand corrected."

The View has not yet filled an open co-host seat vacated by Meghan McCain, and Greenblatt on Tuesday urged the show to consider hiring a Jewish person, "who can bring these issues of anti-Semitism, who can bring these issues of representation to The View every single day."