Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from ABC for two weeks following her remarks on the Holocaust during Monday's episode of The View.
The 66-year-old actress said on the show that the Nazi genocide of the Jews in the 1940s was "not about race" as it involved "two groups of white people".
Per BBC News, ABC News president Kim Godwin responded on Tuesday, February 1, by writing in a message to staff: "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."
She continued: "These decisions are never easy, but necessary. Just last week I noted that the culture at ABC News is one that is driven, kind, inclusive, respectful, and transparent. Whoopi's comments do not align with those values."
Goldberg's controversial remarks came about during a discussion about Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, which features Nazi concentration camps and was banned by a school board in Tennessee.
According to officials from the board, this decision was made due to the nudity, profanity, and scenes of suicide unsuitable to young teenagers that the book contained.
"If you're going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it. Because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race," Goldberg said during the discussion.
"Then what was it about?" asked co-host Joy Behar.
"Man's inhumanity to man," Goldberg replied.
Ana Navarro, another co-host on the show, disagreed, saying: "But it's about white supremacy. It's about going after Jews and Gypsies and Roma."
"But these are two white groups of people," refuted Goldberg.
Then co-host Sara Haines proceeded to explain to Goldberg that the Nazis didn't see the Jews as white.
"But you're missing the point!" Goldberg insisted, saying: "The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley. Let's talk about it for what it is. It's how people treat each other. It's a problem."
Following the backlash that she received immediately after the comments were made, the TV personality took to Twitter to apologize.
"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," she wrote, before quoting Jonathan Greenblatt's words about the systematic persecution of Jews by the Nazis, who considered them "an inferior race."
"I stand corrected," she added.
"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," the Sister Act star concluded, before signing off: "Written with my sincerest apologies."
Goldberg has since made another two public apologies.