Another Holocaust slip-up and Whoopi Goldberg has to apologize. In an interview with the Sunday Times, the Oscar winner for ‘Ghost’ said the extermination of millions of people under the Nazi regime was “not originally a question of race”. It is the second time this year that 67-year-old Goldberg has angered Jewish organizations and criticized historians with false and offensive comments about the mass murder of six million European Jews before and during World War II. Also in January, the comedian said the Holocaust was not a racial issue, but an issue “among white people.”
“Think of who they killed first. They didn’t kill because of race, they killed people they thought were mentally challenged. Then they made that decision,” Goldberg returned to the office with Britain’s Sunday, who she is in Interviewed for the release of the new film “Till”. And to the journalist who objected that “the Nazis measured the heads and noses of Jews to demonstrate that they were of a certain race,” the African-American actress replied, “They did it to black people too.” But that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t spot a Jew on the street. They can recognize me but not them. That’s what I meant.”
It has only been a few hours since the interview was published, and Whoopi was forced to make a mea culpa: “I never wanted to be seen as someone who made doubly offensive comments, especially after speaking to rabbis and old friends who made me understand,” she said, first woman and first person of color to host the Oscars, admitting she “still has a lot to learn,” but noting that “her support for the Jewish community has never been has faltered and will never falter”.
Following the gaffe in January, ABC suspended Goldberg for two weeks from the discussion board of The View, a popular morning show, and even then the actress apologized within hours. Whoopi isn’t the only celebrity to be pilloried in recent months for unhistorical and anti-Semitic remarks, including rapper and former fashion impresario Kanye West and Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving.
Till, the actress’ next film, tells the story of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy who was kidnapped and killed by two white men in Mississippi in 1955. Goldberg, who is also a producer, plays Alma Carthan, the murdered teenager’s grandmother.
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