SHE is one of America's most illustrious stars who has been a household name for nearly 40 years, but Whoopi Goldberg has been making headlines after repeating "offensive" Holocaust remarks.
Goldberg is a prime time star?
The New York-born actress, now 67, is remembered primarily as the star of movies such as The Colour Purple and Sister Act, scooping the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in 1990's Ghost, opposite Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. She is part of a rare group of just 17 entertainers to win the “EGOT”, which includes an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Oscar and a Tony Award.
Now?
She is a prominent TV host in the United States, co-presenting daytime talk show The View, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2009, but her latest remarks have grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons.
What did she say?
In February, Goldberg was forced to issue an apology for saying the Holocaust was "not about race", during a segment on The View that aired in the US in January in which she and other presenters had been discussing a decision by a school board in Tennessee to remove Maus, an award-winning novel about the Holocaust, from the curriculum for certain age groups. During the discussion, Goldberg said the Holocaust - the mass murder of Jews during World War Two - was "not about race" and added: "It's about man's inhumanity to man".
Her apology…?
…at the time she said, “I said the Holocaust is not about race, but about man's inhumanity to man. I should have said it is about both. As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi's systematic annihilation of the Jewish people-who they deemed to be an inferior race.' I stand corrected. The Jewish people around the world have and always will have my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt that I have caused.”
However?
In an interview with The Sunday Times, she appeared to double-down on her earlier remarks, saying that the Holocaust “wasn’t originally” based on race. “Remember who they were killing first,” she said. “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.”
Now?
The comments sparked outrage. Greenblatt demanded Goldberg “apologise immediately” for her remarks and called on her to educate herself “on the true nature of antisemitism and how it was the driving force behind the systemic slaughter of millions”.
She has apologised?
In a statement to E! News, Goldberg said: “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.” She added she believes the "Holocaust was about race" and said her support for the Jewish community "has not wavered and never will”.
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