The View has been encouraged to "add Jewish voices" after Whoopi Goldberg apologized for claiming the Holocaust was not about race. On Tuesday Whoopi opened the hit ABC show and shared with viewers: "Yesterday on the show I misspoke. [The Holocaust] is indeed about race, because Hitler and the Nazis considered the Jews to be an inferior race."
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She continued: "Now, words matter, and mine are no exception. I regret my comments and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people." The TV star also welcomed Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, on to the show, who spoke more on her allegations.
WATCH: The View star Whoopi Goldberg alleges the Holocaust wasn't about race
"Whoopi, there is no question that the Holocaust was about race, that is how the Nazis saw it as they sought the systematic annihilation of the Jewish people - across continents, across countries, with deliberate and ruthless cruelty," he said.
"This is an ongoing discussion Jonathan, as you know, and one that we will continue to have because it is important, and because it affects all of us," Whoopi replied, to which Jonathan suggested that The View should consider adding a Jewish host to fill the open spot vacated by Meghan McCain.
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On Monday, the host of the hit ABC show insisted that the "Holocaust isn’t about race... it’s about man’s inhumanity to man."
Co-host Ana Navarro responded: "But it’s about white supremacists going after Jews - " but Whoopi interrupted, continuing: "But these are two white groups of people! 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 doesn’t matter if you’re Black or white, Jews, it’s each other."
Whoopi apologized for her comments
Hours later, Whoopi appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and doubled down on her claims.
"I feel, being Black, when we talk about race, it’s a very different thing to me. So I said I thought the Holocaust wasn’t about race. And people got very angry and still are angry. I’m getting a lot of mail from folks and a lot of real anger. But I thought it was a salient discussion because as a Black person I think of race as being something that I can see," she said.
"So I see you and know what race you are. I thought it was more about man’s inhumanity to man. People said, 'no, no, we are a race.’ I felt differently. I respect everything everyone is saying to me."
"When you talk about being a racist, you can’t call this racism. This was evil. This wasn’t based on skin. You couldn’t tell who was Jewish. You had to delve deeply and figure it out," she continued.
Her co-hosts tried to counterpoint her arguments
"My point is: they had to do the work,” she said when Stephen pointed out Jews were made to wear the Star of David when they were identified.
"When the Klan is coming down the street and I’m standing with a Jewish friend – I’m going to run. But if my friend decides not to run, they’ll get passed by most times, because you can’t tell most times.
"That’s what I was trying to explain. I understand not everybody sees it that way and I did a lot of harm to myself and people decided I was all these other things that I’m not. I get it, folks are angry, I accept that, and I did it to myself, and I’ll work hard to not think that way again."
Whoopi doubled down on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert before apologizing
The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews during World War II; between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered over six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population.
The 66-year-old later apologized on Twitter, writing that "the Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver".
"I’m sorry for the hurt that I have caused."
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