Whoopi Goldberg slammed for new comments on Jews, race and Holocaust: 'Deeply offensive and ignorant,' says ADL CEO

UPDATE: Whoopi Goldberg has apologized for her comments about Jews and race, after that his weekend remarks reignited a controversy earlier this year that got him suspended from "The View."

"Recently while doing press in London I was asked about my comments from earlier in the year," she said. said in a statement to Variety. "I tried to convey to the reporter what I said and why, and I attempted to relate this time. It was never my intention to appear as if I was doubling down on hurtful comments, especially after talking and hearing people like rabbis and friends old and new weigh in. I'm still learning a lot and believe me I've heard everything everyone said tome I believe the Holocaust was all about of race, and I'm still as sorry today as I was then for upsetting, hurting and angering people. My sincere apologies once again, especially to anyone who thought this was a another rehash of the topic. I promise not. In this time of rising anti-Semitism, I want to be very clear when I say that I have always stood with the Jewish people and always will. My support for them hasn't wavered and never will."

Goldberg courted controversy again after being suspended from "The View" in February after saying that the Holocaust was "not about race." In an interview with , Goldberg said some Jews themselves are split on whether they are a race or a religion. She also doubled down and said the Holocaust "wasn't originally" about race.

"My best friend said, 'There's a reason there's no has no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we are probably not a race,” Goldberg said.

When the Times interviewer reminded Goldberg that the "Nazis saw Jews as a race" , Goldberg replied, "Yeah, but he's the killer, isn't he? The oppressor tells you what you are. Why do you believe them? They're Nazis. Why believe what they say? It wasn't originally [about race]. Remember who they killed first. They didn't kill racially; they killed physically. They killed people they considered mentally deficient. And then they made that decision.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt hit out at Goldberg for his latest comments, writing on Twitter, "Whoopi Goldberg's comments about the Holocaust and race are deeply offensive and incredibly ignorant. When she made similar comments earlier this year, we exposed how inherently racist the Nazi regime was. »

"Whoopi's comments show a complete disregard for the multiethnic and multiracial makeup of the Jewish community", Greenblatt continued. "She must apologize immediately and commit to learning about the true nature of #anti-Semitism."

Goldberg's original remarks emerged during a late January episode of "The View" in which the co-hosts discussed a Tennessee school board's banning of "Maus," a non-fiction graphic novel about the experiences of cartoonist father Art Spiegelman who survived the Holocaust.

"Let's be honest about this because [the] Holocaust is not about race ,” Goldberg told The Times. "It's not about race. It's about man's inhumanity to man."

The remarks drew immediate and sweeping criticism from Jewish organizations, including the Anti -Defamation League and the U.S. Holocaust Museum.