Likely prior to a Twitter statement posted Monday night, The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg appeared on Monday’s taping of CBS’s The Late Show and defended her vile comments about the Holocaust being a White-on-White atrocity and not “about race,” insisting she gave her view as a Black woman who believed the Nazis couldn’t “identify” you as Jewish (and thus capture you) unless you were a wearing Star of David.
Whoopi said it “was never, ever, ever my intention” to “upset...people,” but then tried to have viewers feel sorry for her because people “misunderstood” her and sent “mail” accusing her of “denying the Holocaust and all these other things, which, you know, would never have occurred to me to do.”
Host Stephen Colbert addressed it immediately during her appearance promoting a Lifetime movie, invited her “to follow up” and “clarify what you said...because it confused some people.”
People were “confused” by what she said? Sure, Stephen.
Whoopi acknowledged “it upset a lot of people, which was never ever ever my intention,” but said the show was “having a discussion because I — I feel, being Black, when we talk about race, it's a very different thing to me, so I said I — I felt that the Holocaust wasn't about race and people got very, very, very angry and still are angry.”
Citing “the mail from folks” containing “very real anger,” Goldberg said her comments came from being Black and viewing “race as being something that I can see.”
Emphasizing this wasn’t a “fake” apology, Whoopi added her view of the Holocaust was “that it was really more about man’s inhumanity” with such a mentality again percolating to the surface (read: right-wingers are Nazis) (click “expand”):
GOLDBERG: I felt that — that it was really more about man’s inhumanity to man and how horrible people can be to people, and we’re seeing it manifest itself these days. But people were very angry and...I understand. I — I felt differently. I respect everything everyone is saying to me, and, you know, I don't want to fake apologize, you know. I was — I’m very upset that people are misunderstood what I was saying and, so, because of it, they're saying that I'm anti-Semitic and that I'm denying the Holocaust and all these other things, which, you know, would never have occurred to me to do. I thought we were having a discussion about race, which everyone I think is having.
COLBERT: As the white guy in the conversation here —
GOLDBERG: Uh-huh.
COLBERT: — I am neither Jewish nor Black so I have a different perspective in all this.
GOLDBERG: Yes.
COLBERT: Seems to me whiteness is a construct created by colonial powers during the beginning of colonial imperialist era in order to exploit other people and that they could apply it to all different kinds of people, the idea of race, and the American experience tends to be based on skin.
Following that exchange, Colbert said, based on what he’s “read about how the Nazis operated, when they found out that you were of the Jewish race that's why they'd make you wear a star, so they could see you and identify you.”
Goldberg agreed, saying to laughter from the far-left audience: “Yes, so they could identify you. But my point is, they had to do the work. If you see — if the Klan is coming down the street and I'm standing with a Jewish friend, and neither one — well, I'm going to run.”
She argued that, if a Jewish friend wouldn’t run, the KKK wouldn’t think they’re Jewish “because you can't tell who's Jewish. You don’t — it's not something people say, oh, that person is Jewish or this person is Jewish. And so, that's what I was trying to explain.”
To more audience cheers and applause, she said she “will” try to “not...think that way again” seeing as how “not everybody sees it that way” and it caused “a lot of harm.”
Oh, and she added two final excuses by lamenting how “the Nazi’s lied” and stated she was wondering about how to talk about the Holocaust to today’s children (click “expand”):
GOLDBERG: I understand that not everybody sees it that way, and that I did a lot of harm, I guess, to myself, and people, you know, decided I was all these other things I'm actually not, and I'm incredibly torn up by being told these things about myself and, you know, I get it. Folks are angry. I accept that, and I did it to myself. This was my — my thought process, and I will work hard not to think that way again.
COLBERT: Have you — have you — [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] — come to understand that the Nazis saw it as race?
GOLDBERG: Well, well —
COLBERT: Because asking the Nazis, they would say, yes, it's a racial issue.
GOLDBERG: Well, see, this is what's interesting to me because the Nazis lied. It wasn't. They — they had issues with ethnicity, not with race, because most of the Nazis were White people and most to have the people they were attacking were White people. So, to me, I'm thinking how can you — how can you say it's about race if you are fighting each other? So, it all really began because I said how will children — how we explain to children what happened in Nazi Germany? This wasn't — I said, this wasn't racial, this was about White-on-White and everybody said, no, no, no, it was racial. And, so, that's what this all came from. So, once again, don't write me anymore, I know how you feel, okay? I already know. I get it, and I'm going to take your word for it and never bring it up again.
Goldberg’s mealy-mouth meandering was made possible thanks to Late Show advertisers such as Lactaid and Oral-B. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from February 1, click “expand.”
CBS’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
February 1, 2022
12:06 a.m. EasternSTEPHEN COLBERT: Now, you made some news
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Yes.
COLBERT: — this morning on The View —
GOLDBERG: Yes, I did.
COLBERT: — when y’all were talking about the Holocaust.
GOLDBERG: Yeah.
COLBERT: And would you care to follow up — clarify what you said this morning
GOLDBERG: I don’t know if I —
COLBERT: — because it confused some people.
GOLDBERG: — it’s — it upset a lot of people —
COLBERT: Yes.
GOLDBERG: — which was never ever ever my intention.
COLBERT: Yeah.
GOLDBERG: I thought we were having a discussion because I — I feel, being Black, when we talk about race, it's a very different thing to me, so I said I — I felt that the Holocaust wasn't about race. And people got very, very, very angry and still are angry. I mean, I’m getting, you know, all of the mail from folks, and the very real anger because people feel very differently. But I thought it was a — a salient discussion because, as a Black person, I think of race as being something that I can see, so I see you and I know what race you are, and the discussion was about how I felt about that. I felt that — that it was really more about man’s inhumanity to man and how horrible people can be to people, and we’re seeing it manifest itself these days. But people were very angry and they said, no, no, we are a race, and I — I — I understand. I understand. I — I felt differently. I respect everything everyone is saying to me, and, you know, I don't want to fake apologize, you know. I was — I’m very upset that people are misunderstood what I was saying and, so, because of it, they're saying that I'm anti-Semitic and that I'm denying the Holocaust and all these other things, which, you know, would never have occurred to me to do. I thought we were having a discussion about race, which everyone I think is having.
COLBERT: As the white guy in the conversation here —
GOLDBERG: Uh-huh.
COLBERT: — I am neither Jewish nor Black so I have a different perspective in all this.
GOLDBERG: Yes.
COLBERT: Seems to me whiteness is a construct created by colonial powers during the beginning of colonial imperialist era in order to exploit other people and that they could apply it to all different kinds of people, the idea of race, and the American experience tends to be based on skin.
GOLDBERG: Yes, and, so, that is what race means to me.
COLBERT: Umm hmm.
GOLDBERG: When you talk about being a racist, I was saying, you can't call this racism. This was evil.
COLBERT: Umm hmm.
GOLDBERG: This wasn't — this wasn’t based on the skin. You couldn't tell who was Jewish. They had to delve deeply to figure it out.
COLBERT: I think one of the reasons why people might say — and, again, I — I — I am — I’m not Jewish and I'm not Black —
GOLDBERG: Right.
COLBERT: — but as someone who understands, you know, what I've read about how the Nazis operated, when they found out that you were of the Jewish race —
GOLDBERG: Right, yes.
COLBERT: — that's why they'd make you wear a star —
GOLDBERG: Yes.
COLBERT: — so they could see you and identify you.
GOLBERG: Yes, so they could identify you. But my point is, they had to do the work. If you see — if the Klan is coming down the street —
COLBERT: Umm hmm.
GOLDBERG: — and I'm standing with a Jewish friend, and neither one — well, I'm going to run. [LAUGHTER] But if my friend decides not to run, they'll get passed by most times because you can't tell who's Jewish. You don’t — it's not something people say, oh, that person is Jewish or this person is Jewish. And so, that's what I was trying to explain, and I understand that not everybody sees it that way, and that I did a lot of harm, I guess, to myself, and people, you know, decided I was all these other things I'm actually not, and I'm incredibly torn up by being told these things about myself and, you know, I get it. Folks are angry. I accept that, and I did it to myself. This was my — my thought process, and I will work hard not to think that way again.
COLBERT: Have you — have you — [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] — come to understand that the Nazis saw it as race?
GOLDBERG: Well, well —
COLBERT: Because asking the Nazis, they would say, yes, it's a racial issue.
GOLDBERG: Well, see, this is what's interesting to me because the Nazis lied. It wasn't. They — they had issues with ethnicity, not with race, because most of the Nazis were White people and most to have the people they were attacking were White people. So, to me, I'm thinking how can you — how can you say it's about race if you are fighting each other? So, it all really began because I said how will children — how we explain to children what happened in Nazi Germany? This wasn't — I said, this wasn't racial, this was about White-on-White and everybody said, no, no, no, it was racial. And, so, that's what this all came from. So, once again, don't write me anymore, I know how you feel, okay? I already know. I get it, and I'm going to take your word for it and never bring it up again.
