Whoopi Goldberg returned to her co-hosting spot on ‘The View’ after a two-week suspension following controversial remarks about the Holocaust. The 66-year-old Goldberg returned to the show on Monday, February 14. Goldberg’s two-week suspension was announced on February 1, after she had said the Holocaust “isn’t about race” during a discussion about a school board banning Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel ‘Maus.’
Upon her return, she mentioned how diving deep into sensitive topics was par for the course on the show. “I missed you all too. There’s something kind of marvelous about being on a show like this, because we are The View, and this is what we do, and sometimes we don’t do this [as] elegantly as we could. It’s five minutes to get in important information about topics, and that’s what we try to do everyday.” Goldberg continued: “I want to thank everybody who reached out while I was away. I listened to everything everybody had to say, and I was very grateful. I hope it keeps the important conversations happening, because we’re going to keep having tough conversations. In part, because this is what we’ve been hired to do, and it’s not always pretty, as I said, and it’s not always as other people would like to hear.”
Following the backlash against Whoopi, the comedian apologized and discussed her comments on-air with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. She said at the time: “It is indeed about race, because Hitler and the Nazis considered Jews to be an inferior race. Now, words matter, and mine are no exception. I regret my comments, as I said, and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people, as they know.” Despite her apology, ABC News President Kim Godwin suspended Goldberg on February 1, saying: “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments.”
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