Whoopi Goldberg Clarifies Recent Comments About Jews, Race & The Holocaust – Deadline

Has been updated with statement: Whoopi Goldberg issued a statement to Deadline today after an interview with The Sunday Times in London provoked strong reactions from ADL and other organizations fighting anti-Semitism. In a statement, Goldberg indicated in the interview that she simply said what she said earlier this year and did not “double down on the hurtful comments.” “I believe the Holocaust is about race.

Read her full story below.

Recently, while doing press in London, I was asked about my comments earlier this year. I tried to tell the reporter what I said and why, and I tried to detail what happened. I didn’t mean to make it look like I was doubling down on hurtful comments, especially after hearing people talk and comment with people like rabbis and old and new friends. I am still learning a lot and believe me. to me. I believe the Holocaust was about race, and I still regret the things that upset, hurt, and made people angry. My sincere apologies, especially to everyone who thought this was a rehash of the subject. I promise you it wasn’t. In this era of rising anti-Semitism, I want to make it clear that I will always stand with the Jews and will continue to do so. My support for them is unwavering.

Before: For the second time this year, Whoopi Goldberg has tried to argue that the Holocaust is not about race. And for the second time this year, her ADL and other groups fighting anti-Semitism put her right.

Advertise in an interview with The Sunday Times on Saturday UntilGoldberg, who plays the mother of civil rights activist Mamie Till-Mobley, spoke on the topic of race, suggesting that there is debate about whether Jews are a race or a religious group.

“My best friend said, ‘It’s not for nothing that the census doesn’t have a spot for the Jewish race. view The host said in an interview published during Hanukkah.

A Times interviewer reminded her that “the Nazis saw Jews as a race,” referring to Goldberg’s comment in January, which claimed the Holocaust was “not about race.” .

Goldberg replied, “Yes, but that’s the killer, isn’t it? The oppressors are telling you what you are. Why do you believe them? They’re Nazis. Why do they say do you believe that?”

She continues: [about race]Remember who they were killing first? They weren’t killing races. They were killing physically. They were killing people they thought were mentally deficient. And they made this decision. ”

In response, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on Twitter:

Whoopi Goldberg’s comments about the Holocaust and race are extremely offensive and incredibly ignorant. When she made a similar comment earlier this year, we explained that the Nazi regime was inherently racist.

The Nazis set out to exterminate the Jews, who saw them as inferior to the mythical “Aryan Master Race”. They used pseudoscientific race theories to justify anti-Semitic “race laws” and the systematic genocide of millions.

It is no coincidence that today’s white supremacists in the United States spread anti-Semitic and racist hatred, reflecting the Nazi “master race” claims.

Furthermore, Whoopi’s comments show a complete lack of awareness of the multi-ethnic, multi-ethnic makeup of the Jewish community. She needs to apologize immediately and she really needs to devote herself to educating herself on its essence. #Anti-Semitism.

Goldberg’s statement to The Times, in an on-air apology in January, of opinion The host said the Holocaust was “really about race because Hitler and the Nazis saw Jews as an inferior race. Now, words matter — and mine is no exception. I regret it and am correcting it.I also support the Jews.”

Regarding Goldberg’s timeline of ‘Who Killed First’, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum shares a letter written by Adolf Hitler in 1919, 14 years before the opening of the first concentration camp. did. In it, Hitler stated in clear terms that “Jews are undoubtedly a race”, describing Jews as “a different race, whose racial characteristics cannot be sacrificed and which are sacrificed.” I don’t want that.”

The museum also states that “this text is one of Hitler’s first significant statements on the Jewish question.” You can read it below.