Whoopi Goldberg returned to The View on Monday, ending a suspension stemming from controversial comments she made about the Holocaust on the ABC show on Monday, Jan. 31.
Taking her seat in the moderator’s spot at the table, Goldberg welcomed viewers to the show by saying she’s “back.”
“We’re going to keep having tough conversations,” Goldberg said. “And in part, because this is what we’ve been hired to do. And it’s not always pretty, as I said, and it is not always as other people would like to hear. But 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 to us more so as a human entity.”
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Earlier, she indicated that she recognizes both the opportunity and the limitations given to her by that platform.
“There’s something kind of marvelous about being on a show like this because we are The View and this is what we do,” she said. “Sometimes we don’t do it as elegantly as we could. It’s five minutes to get in important information about topics. That’s what we try to do every day.”
In the 90-second remarks, Goldberg also thanked those who reached out to her and shared with her co-hosts that she missed them.
“I listened to everything everybody had to say and I was very grateful, and I hope it keeps important conversations happening,” she said.
Goldberg was suspended after, during a discussion about graphic novel Maus on The View on Jan. 31, she said the Holocaust was “not about race.” The remark prompted a swift backlash online, with Goldberg issuing an apology on social media and on The View the next day. That day the show also welcomed Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt to discuss the issue.
Prior to her initial apology, though, Goldberg taped an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in which she added to her earlier comments and, to some, appeared to double down on her initial remarks.
On the night of Feb. 1, ABC News president Kim Godwin announced that Goldberg had been suspended for two weeks. Joy Behar took Goldberg’s seat in the moderator’s chair on Wednesday’s View and simply said Goldberg would “be back here in two weeks.”
