Whoopi Goldberg apologizes for Holocaust comments after saying she didn't want to 'fake apologize'

Whoopi Goldberg took a conversation on Monday's The View about a Tennessee school board banning the Holocaust graphic novel Maus and turned it into a daylong controversy about Judaism, race, and whether Nazis were racist or just evil. "If you're going to do this, then let's be truthful about it," she said. "Because the Holocaust isn't about race," but rather "about man's inhumanity to other man."

Goldberg's co-hosts on The View pointed out that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis explicitly viewed Jewish people as a distinct race they tried to exterminate. "But these are two white groups of people," she said. "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." Her comments drew a lot of blowback, and Goldberg had her first chance to respond on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.