'The View': Joy Behar Erupts on the Air After Whoopi Goldberg's Suspension

By Allison Schonter

The View's return Wednesday morning with one co-host absent from the panel didn't come without drama of its own. Hours earlier, Whoopi Goldberg was handed a two-week suspension over her comments about the Holocaust. While the group of co-hosts are used to digging into hot and heated topics, the topic of Goldberg's suspension was one they were more willing to breeze past, with Joy Behar only offering a brief reaction.

Behar opened Wednesday's show with a curt remark, telling audience members and viewers, "You all saw the news. Whoopi will be back in two weeks." Behar offered no further comment, nor did her co-hosts. Instead, Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, and guest conservative commentator Tara Setmayer moved on to the daily Hot Topics segment, and Goldberg's suspension was not mentioned again throughout the remainder of the episode.

Behar, Hostin, and Haines returned to the discussion table just hours after ABC News President Kim Godwin confirmed that Goldberg had been suspended "for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments." The suspension, Godwin said, was "effective immediately." Godwin added that while Goldberg "has apologized, I've asked her to take time and reflect and learn about the impact of her comments" and "the entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family, and communities."

Goldberg's suspension followed remarks she made during the Monday, Jan. 31 episode of the ABC talk show, during which she and co-hosts discussed the recent banning of Maus by a school board in Tennessee. The Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel is about the Holocaust, which Goldberg claimed "isn't about race," but rather "about man's inhumanity to man...These are two white groups of people." Goldberg's remarks sparked fierce outcry, with the Anti-Defamation League and numerous other groups condemning her statement. The Auschwitz Memorial went so far as to suggest Goldberg take an online course on the history of the Holocaust.

Amid the controversy, Goldberg backtracked her remarks, stating on the air Tuesday that the Holocaust "is indeed about race, because Hitler and the Nazis considered the Jews to be an inferior race. Now, words matter – and mine are no exception. I regret my comments, and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people." Further apologizing in a tweet, Goldberg apologized "for the hurt I have caused."

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