ABC staffers fury that network has not fired Whoopi Goldberg over Holocaust race claims

EXCLUSIVE – ‘Why is there one rule for Whoopi and another for everyone else?’ Staffers’ fury at ABC’s ‘anti-Semitic blind spot’ for not firing Goldberg over her claim the Holocaust ‘wasn’t racist’ – as #FireWhoopi hashtag spreads

• Whoopi Goldberg has not been disciplined by ABC News over her Holocaust claims
• On Monday, she claimed the Holocaust was not ‘about race’ because Nazis and Jews were both white 
• She then doubled down on the claim on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
• Whoopi posted an apology on Twitter claiming she stood ‘corrected’ – but many are refusing to accept it 
• They say she should be fired like Sharon Osborne was from CBS or like Roseanne Barr was from ABC 
• One senior ABC News source told DailyMail.com staff are ‘livid’ and that the network has an ‘anti-Semitic blind spot’ 
• ABC has not yet commented on Whoopi’s remarks; she is due to appear on The View again at 11am Tuesday 

By Jennifer Smith, Chief Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 15:32 GMT, 1 February 2022 | Updated: 17:39 GMT, 1 February 2022

ABC News staffers are furious at the network for not firing Whoopi Goldberg after she claimed on Monday that the Holocaust wasn’t about race, with some accusing the network of having an anti-Semitic ‘blind spot’.

Whoopi, 66, made the controversial comments on The View on Monday. 

She referred to Jews and Nazis as ‘two groups of white people’ and said that because they were both white, it was about ‘inhumanity’ and not race’. 

Her remarks sparked immediate international backlash with everyone from the Israeli Consular General in New York to the Auschwitz Memorial and Antidefamation League taking offense. 

ABC has refused to comment on the scandal. 

Whoopi posted an apology on Twitter last night saying the Holocaust was about ‘both’ race and inhumanity. 

She said ‘I stand corrected’ and apologized, but then went on Colbert where she doubled down on her earlier comments. 

Ahead of The View’s show on Tuesday, a senior ABC News source told DailyMail.com that staff are stunned by the network’s soft touch on her remarks, especially when it was so quick to fire Roseanne Barr over racist comments towards Valerie Jarrett. 

‘There is a blind spot on The View when it comes to anti-Semitism. It is never a big enough hate crime for them. 

 

Whoop Goldberg on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night. She doubled down on her comments about The Holocaust not being racist 

WHOOPI’S HOLOCAUST COMMENTS  

The saga began when the panel discussed a Tennessee school removing the comic Maus from its curriculum because it contained nudity. 

Critics are now demanding that Goldberg be fired from the show. 

They pointed to other talk show hosts and TV personalities like Sharon Osborne and Roseanne Barr who were fired over making controversial remarks. 

Goldberg started off by saying: ‘Personally I am shocked because given the story of Maus I am surprised that that’s what made you uncomfortable. 

‘It’s about the Holocaust, the killing of 6million people, but that didn’t bother you. This is white people doing it to white people so y’all go fight amongst yourselves but…’ 

Later, she carried on: ‘Let’s be truthful about it. The Holocaust isn’t about race. It’s not about race. It’s not about race. It’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man. That’s what it’s about.’   

Co-hosts Ana Navarro, Joy Behar and Sarah Haines all argued back but she continued: ‘But these are two white groups of people? You are missing the point.

‘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.’ 

‘These comments are absolutely abhorrent and outrageous and it’s time Disney and ABC grew a pair and fired her,’ the source said.

‘Disney took swift action and fired Roseanne Barr when she posted the awful tweet about Valerie Jarrett, yet Whoopi made her vile comments on ABC’s air and they do nothing about it? Where is the leadership from within Disney? Peter Rice needs to step up and do his job and fire Whoopi. 

‘How is this appropriate at all? What message do we send as a company? Why is there one rule for Whoopi Goldberg – who gets a pass on everything and another rule for everyone else?’ said the source. 

They added that the comment on Monday was only the latest in a string of inflammatory claims made by Whoopi, who previously defended Bill Cosby on the show. 

‘We were all outraged when Whoopi was defending Bill Cosby and ABC had to bring [legal analyst] Dan Abrams on the show to help her understand that her views surrounding Cosby were extremely problematic. This was after fifty women, FIFTY, had come forward with serious allegations about him.’ 

‘People are livid within the news division as it completely undermines our credibility.’ 

The source also alleged that former host Meghan McCain previously pitched the victim of a Jewish hate crime as a guest on the show but that she was told to conduct the interview for online only.   

Among those who fumed over Goldberg being allowed to stay on the show was Piers Morgan. 

‘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,’ he said. 

Osborne was fired from The Talk, a CBS show, for defending Morgan against allegations he was racist because he did not believe everything the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, said.

The Consular General of Israel invited Goldberg on Monday to take a tour of the Museum of Jewish Heritage to learn about the Holocaust

Others have compared Whoopi’s situation to that of Joe Rogan, the Spotify podcast host who was admonished by musicians because he hosted anti-vax opinions on his show. 

Spotify is standing by him and adding a content advisory warning to his shows, ignoring the demands of musicians like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young who threatened to pull their music off the streaming site because they disagreed with Rogan. 

Rogan has never disclosed his vaccination status. It’s unclear if he is pro or against it but the very fact he was giving a platform to the topic of anti-vaxxing was enough, they said, to constitute disinformation.  

Whoopi is expected to return to The View at 11am Tuesday. 

Her co-hosts have not yet publicly commented on her remarks.  

Whoopi posted this apology on Twitter on Monday night after sparking outrage

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