Whoopi Goldberg is reportedly spending her suspension from ABC’s “The View” focusing on educating herself about the Holocaust after she falsely claimed that the Holocaust was not about race.
“Whoopi is going to take this suspension on the chin. She is going to lay low and will take the next two weeks as a way of learning more on what she said to make her better,” a source told HollywoodLife, later adding: “She is going to use the next two weeks to educate herself more and more about all things that surround the Holocaust and the horrors that happened during it, but she refuses to stop there.”
The network announced last week that Goldberg would be suspended for two weeks after she claimed during an episode of the show that the Holocaust was not about race.
“If we’re going to do this, let’s be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No. It’s not about race,” Goldberg said. “It’s not about race. It’s not about race.”
Kim Godwin, president of ABC News, said that Goldberg would be suspended over “her wrong and hurtful comments” about the Holocaust.
“While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments,” Godwin said. “The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family, and communities.”
The New York Post reported that a source, described as a well-placed insider, told the newspaper that Goldberg is “livid” and feels “humiliated” over the suspension.
“She feels ABC executives mishandled this. She followed their playbook. She went on ‘The Late Show With Steven Colbert’ and then apologized again on ‘The View’ the next day,” the source told the Post. “Her ego has been hurt and she’s telling people she’s going to quit. Suspension from ‘The View’ is like getting suspended from Bravo. The bar is very low.”
Prior to her suspension, sources that spoke with Page Six said that employees and executives at the company, including insiders at Disney, were furious over her remarks and the fact that she had not been disciplined yet.
“If we’re going to do this, let’s be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No. It’s not about race,” Goldberg said. “It’s not about race. It’s not about race.”
One insider told Page Six that the controversy was not “just going to blow over.”
“ABC staffers and Disney Network execs are saying Whoopi went way too far. And board members are not happy with her apology and want a fuller retraction. The word is that Whoopi is in ‘deep s–t,’” the ABC insider said. “Why does Whoopi seemingly get a pass when others don’t? Perhaps this time she won’t. Many at the network — including her fellow hosts — believe Whoopi is too controversial now for the show.”
“This will cast a shadow over everything for a while. Even Joy Behar was heard saying backstage that Whoopi is ‘dead wrong’ and may not ever recover from this,” the source said. “Joy found this particularly troubling and couldn’t believe Whoopi wouldn’t stand corrected until she was forced.”