Following criticism from the Anti-Defamation League of comments she made in a recent interview with a British newspaper about Jewish people and race, Whoopi Goldberg has issued a clarification and apology.
“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,” Goldberg said in a statement released Tuesday.
“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,” she continued.
In an interview with the Sunday Times published on Dec. 24, Goldberg was asked about the comments she made earlier in 2022 that got her suspended from “The View” for 2 weeks. At that time, Goldberg, while in no way denying the holocaust or minimizing antisemitism, expressed the view that the holocaust “wasn’t about race.” Her reasoning was that Jewish people are white and can pass in white society in ways Black people cannot, though this view obviously reflects America’s history of racism and not Nazi beliefs about Jewish people that motivated the holocaust.
Asked about that matter by the Sunday Times, Goldberg tried to explain the situation and clarify those comments, unsuccessfully as it turns out. Those new comments were picked up by several right wing media outlets and the uproar was reignited. On Tuesday, ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt condemned Goldberg’s latest comments in a statement posted on Twitter.