The head of the Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday criticized "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg over her recent comments on the Holocaust, which he called "deeply offensive."
Goldberg said in an interview with The Sunday Times that the Holocaust "wasn't originally" focused on race.
"Remember who they were killing first," she said. "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."
ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement, "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. In a moment when antisemitic incidents have surged across the U.S., she should realize that making such ignorant statements can have real consequences."
He added, "Germans considered themselves the 'master race' and claimed all other non-Aryans were inferior. This is a trope we still hear echoed by white supremacists in the U.S. today. As a result of the racial Nuremberg laws, six million Jews, including at least 1.5 million Jewish children, who were slaughtered in the Nazi gas chambers and death camps during the Holocaust, as were millions of others."
Greenblatt said Goldberg should "apologize immediately" for her comments and to learn more about "the true nature of antisemitism and how it was the driving force behind the systemic slaughter of millions."
He added, "She shouldn't do it for the ratings — she should do it simply because it's the right thing to do. Failure to address the issue would raise serious questions about her sincerity and solidarity with her Jewish viewers and all those who experience any form of hate."