Two weeks already??
After a controversial two-week suspension, Whoopi Goldberg returned to the small screen on Monday in a brand-new episode of The View, and she wasted no time addressing the much-debated hiatus!
As Perezcious readers will recall, the daytime TV host was temporarily removed from the ABC series earlier this month after making ignorant comments about the Holocaust. While a few fans felt the punishment was too little, others thought it would have been more impactful for the show to use the opportunity as a teaching moment. But, alas, neither won the debate when it was announced that Whoopi would be forced to take a few weeks to think about her mistake off-camera. So did she really learn a thing or two on her time off?
Opening up the Valentine’s Day episode, Whoopi greeted viewers with a smile, saying:
“Hello and welcome to The View. And yes, I am back.”
Off-screen, her co-host Joy Behar cheered:
“We missed you.”
The New York native then went on to address her public suspension, sharing:
“I missed you all too. I got to tell you, there’s something kind of marvelous about being on a show like this because we are The View and this is what we do. Sometimes we don’t do this as eloquently as we could.”
Well, that’s one way to put it! Getting candid about what makes their job particularly tricky sometimes, the host explained:
“It’s five minutes to get in important information about topics and that’s what we do every day. I want to thank everybody who reached out while I was away. I’m telling you, people reached out from places that made me go, ‘Wait, really, OK?’ and it was amazing.”
The 66-year-old did seem incredibly grateful to be back at the roundtable after the unexpected drama — which is good for fans who were worried there was truth behind those rumors that she was planning to quit. While she didn’t go into specifics, it does sound like she was following the online chatter and hopefully learning why her comments were so off-base, as she said she did in her initial apology! The Sister Act lead continued:
“And I listened to everything everybody had to say and I was very grateful. I hope it keeps all the important conversations happening because we’re gonna be having tough conversations in part because this is what we’ve been hired to do.”
And she knows that this is likely far from her (or the show’s) last controversy because that’s what happens when you’re talking about your opinions on trending topics! While the conversations on the show might not always be “pretty” or “what other people would like to hear,” she insisted that’s what makes the series so important:
“It is an honor to sit at this table and be able to have these conversations because they’re important. They’re important to us as a nation and important to us more as a human entity.”
It really is so important to be able to hold space for difficult and uncomfortable conversations — and to learn from our mistakes. Was this the right way for her to learn? See Whoopi speak out on the controversy (below)!
As seen above, Whoopi ended the message on a positive note by wishing fans a happy Valentine’s Day. Clearly trying to spread love and not hate!
That said, Kim Godwin, the President of ABC News, did think it was important to make a statement by suspending one of her top stars for the blunder, releasing a statement to ET at the start of the month that declared:
“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments. While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”
As a reminder, Goldberg tried to claim that the Holocaust wasn’t about race in an episode that aired on January 31, arguing:
“The Holocaust isn’t about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man…These are two white groups of people.”
Joy disagreed with that viewpoint, responding:
“Well, they considered Jews a different race.”
After the backlash went viral, the actress was quick to share her “sincerest apologies.” She wrote on Twitter:
“On today’s show, I said the Holocaust ‘is not about race, but about man’s inhumanity to man.’ I should have said it is about both. As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazis’ systematic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race.’ I stand corrected. The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused.”
She also went on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to clarify her statements and apologize for making so many people upset. You can take a listen to her thought process (below).
Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Are you glad to see Whoopi back on-screen or do you think more should have been done to rectify the situation?
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