Whoopi Goldberg Adds to Her Controversial Holocaust Comments in New Interview, But Says She's Not Doubling Down
Whoopi Goldberg made new comments about the Holocaust in a recent interview after making some controversial remarks earlier this year.
The Oscar-winning actress and The View co-host previously had said that she didn’t think the Holocaust was about race.
“Let’s be truthful about it because Holocaust isn’t about race,” Whoopi originally said on The View in January 2022. “It’s not about race. It’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.” She later apologized and subsequently clarified her comments during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
While speaking to The Sunday Times for a December 2022 article, Whoopi said that Jewish people were even divided on the subject.
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“My best friend said, ‘Not for nothing is there no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we’re probably not a race,’” she said.
The interviewer said that the Nazis saw Jewish people as a race and Whoopi replied, “Yes, but that’s the killer, isn’t it? The oppressor is telling you what you are. Why are you believing them? They’re Nazis. Why believe what they’re saying?”
Whoopi added, “Remember who they were killing first. They were not killing racial; they were killing physical. They were killing people they considered to be mentally defective. And then they made this decision.”
In a statement that was released after the article came out, Whoopi clarified that she was not “doubling down” on her earlier remarks and that she believes the Holocaust was indeed about race.
Read her statement below, via Deadline.
- Recently while doing press in London, I was asked about my comments from earlier this year. I tried to convey to the reporter what I had said and why, and attempted to recount that time. It was never my intention to appear as if I was doubling down on hurtful comments, especially after talking with and hearing people like rabbis and old and new friends weighing in. I’m still learning a lot and believe me, I heard everything everyone said to me. I believe that the Holocaust was about race, and I am still as sorry now as I was then that I upset, hurt and angered people. My sincere apologies again, especially to everyone who thought this was a fresh rehash of the subject. I promise it was not. In this time of rising antisemitism, I want to be very clear when I say that I always stood with the Jewish people and always will. My support for them has not wavered and never will.