Whoopi Goldberg Is Sorry (Again) for Her Holocaust Comments: “My Sincere Apologies”

Whoopi Goldberg is apologizing after receiving backlash for her comments about the Holocaust. Is this all sounding a little too familiar? If you answered yes, you’re right on track. The View co-host is in hot water again, and she just issued a statement taking back what she said to the The Sunday Times after her words were met with outrage online — including a callout from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) chief himself.

In a statement shared with Entertainment Weekly, Goldberg claimed she was trying to give context to the original remarks she made about the Holocaust, which got her suspended from The View earlier this year.

“Recently while doing press in London, I was asked about my comments from earlier this year,” she said, per EW. “I tried to convey to the reporter what I had said and why, and attempted to recount that time. It was never my intention to appear as if I was doubling down on hurtful comments, especially after talking with and hearing people like rabbis and old and new friends weighing in. I’m still learning a lot and believe me, I heard everything everyone said to me.”

She continued, “I believe that the Holocaust was about race, and I am still as sorry now as I was then that I upset, hurt and angered people. My sincere apologies again, especially to everyone who thought this was a fresh rehash of the subject. I promise it was not.”

Goldberg also insisted she has always supported Jewish people and will continue to do so, adding, “In this time of rising antisemitism, I want to be very clear when I say that I always stood with the Jewish people and always will. My support for them has not wavered and never will.”

Her apology follows the publication of her Sunday Times interview, in which she told the outlet that the Holocaust “wasn’t originally” rooted in race, appearing to double down on her comments from earlier this year. Goldberg added, “Remember who they were killing first. They were not killing racial; they were killing physical. They were killing people they considered to be mentally defective. And then they made this decision.”

Shortly after her words began to circulate online, and the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt, among others, slammed Goldberg’s “offensive” interview.

“Whoopi Goldberg’s comments about the Holocaust and race are deeply offensive and incredibly disappointing, especially given that this is not the first time she had made remarks like this,” Greenblatt said, per The Hill. “In a moment when antisemitic incidents have surged across the US, she should realize that making such ignorant statements can have real consequences.”