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Petition to remove Whoopi Goldberg from The View reaches over 36,000 signatures following Holocaust scandal-Stella Akinwumi-Entertainment – Metro
Goldberg was suspended from The View for two weeks following the backlash.
The petition is calling for the host to be fired from The View (Picture: AP)
A petition urging Whoopi Goldberg to step down from The View has reached over 36,000 signatures.
At the beginning of the year, the Ghost actress, 66, issued an apology after saying on the programme that the Holocaust ‘wasn’t about race’ and that it was ‘about man’s inhumanity to man’.
‘These are two white groups of people,’ she said.
‘The minute you turn it into race it goes down this alley. Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s how people treat each other. It doesn’t matter if you’re Black or white, Jews, it’s each other.’
Goldberg’s remarks sparked backlash, with numerous people pointing out that the Nazis regarded themselves as an Aryan ‘master race’ and six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust over Hitler’s racial hatred of the Jewish people.
A petition on Change.org is calling for the co-host to be ‘fired’ from the daytime TV show ‘for her repulsive verbiage and actions.’
Goldberg’s comments sparked major backlash (Picture: AFP)
It goes on: ‘Whoopi has made numerous remarks about race that have ruffled feathers. But her most recent comment attacking victims of the holocaust and the entire Jewish community are disgusting.
The petition launched in March, and it has so far garnered 38,000 signatures and with organisers hoping they can reach 50,000 target.
Following the intense scrutiny, Goldberg was suspended for two weeks and released a statement taking accountability for her erroneous statement: ‘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 always had my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused.’
Whoopi has hosted The View since 2007 (Picture: REX)
She concluded: ‘Written with my sincerest apologies, Whoopi Goldberg.’
After Sharon Osbourne exited The Talk following allegations of racism last year, broadcaster Piers Morgan suggested Goldberg should be sacked from The View.
‘WTF? This is insane. The extermination of 6 million Jews wasn’t about race???’ he said, responding to her statement.
‘Will any rock stars or renegade royals now boycott Whoopi Goldberg and/or ABC for this dangerous misinformation?’
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He later followed it up with: ‘Sharon Osbourne was fired from The Talk for defending me against a fake charge of racism.
‘Whoopi Goldberg said on The View yesterday that the Holocaust “wasn’t about race”, which for Jewish people is about as racist a comment as anyone could make. Bet she doesn’t lose her job.’
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Whoopi Goldberg’s reps and ABC for comment.
The View airs on ABC in the US.
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