Whoopie Goldberg gets controversial
Sophie Salem, Staff Writer
Actor, comedian and author Whoopi Goldberg has just begun her two week suspension from her talk show “The View” due to controversial comments on the Holocaust. “The Holocaust isn’t about race… it’s about man’s inhumanity to man” Goldberg said. She quickly retracted her remarks and made an apology, but nothing stopped “The View” from suspending her for this comment. However, since this news came out, many people, including Bill Maher, disagree with the decision to suspend Goldberg. They believe that she had the right idea, but the wrong words came out. The truth of the matter is that her comment was completely uncalled for and proves her misunderstanding of the Holocaust. Not to mention, there has been a rise in anti semitism more recently and comments like this from TV personalities only worsen the situation.
During the Holocaust, Hitler saw the Jewish people as a separate race, one not accepted in society. Just as Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League said, “the Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people – who they deemed to be an inferior race.” Well, Goldberg is right, Jewish people are not their own race, but that doesn’t have anything to do with what was thought during this 80 year old tragedy. Today in America, racism is just seen through a lens of black and white, but throughout the 1930s, this perspective was completely different. Hitler saw Jewish people as inferior as they weren’t “pure white” or from his view, blonde and blue eyed. To Hitler, the inferiority of Judaism came from the bloodline from years prior. So, Hitler saw Jews as a completely different race than he was. Olivia Landon (’22) agrees that Goldberg’s comment was out of complete ignorance.
“People have to realize that Judaism is an ethno religion meaning that it can be a religion but it is also a cultural identity. The Holocaust was most definitely racial as they didn’t just kill white Jews. The Holocaust is a racial issue because the whole motivation was that the white race was superior,” Landon said.
It is clear that Whoopi Goldberg was not educated anough on the Holocaust to make the comments she did. Before speaking on something so controversial, she should have ensured she knew what she was talking about. Given this situation, she has every right to be suspended and should think about the repercussions before speaking on such a sensitive topic.
Whoopie Goldberg, a host on The View, is suspended for anti-semetic comments.