Whoopi Goldberg’s former co-host of The View says the presenter’s suspension from the programme should be viewed as “a learning moment”.
Michelle Collins, who was the second of the show’s two Jewish co-hosts before she was fired in 2016, said Goldberg “really appreciates other cultures and really learns about them”.
It comes following a backlash after Goldberg said the Holocaust was not “about race”, after which she was suspended from the show for two weeks by ABC News.
Speaking about the incident on SiriusXM’s The Michelle Collins Show, Collins said: “I don’t believe she said it to hurt the Jewish people.
“I think you’re on a live show where things are said and then the headlines that come out of that show are so brutal.
“Things are condensed into seven to 10 words, so you see those words, people don’t take the time to read, and then they lose their s**t.”
She continued: “It was a learning moment, which we don’t have any more because we just cut the cord, we cancel.
“It’s just ‘get rid of this person’, there’s no forgiveness left, it’s very cruel.
“That show is a minefield … I’m not defending what she said. I don’t agree with it (but) I think it’s a learning moment.”
Goldberg made the comments on an episode of The View during a discussion about a Tennessee school board’s decision to ban Pulitzer prize-winning Holocaust graphic novel Maus, later apologising for the remarks.
Collins said she felt Goldberg’s apology was “sincere” and praised the presenter, describing her as “one of the icons of a generation”.
“When I was on (The View), Whoopi Goldberg was one of the most supportive, nicest, people there to me,” she said.
“I know Whoopi fairly well. I know her family. I adore her. I look up to her.
“She’s literally one of the icons of a generation. Whoopi is not only brilliantly smart, brilliantly talented, hilarious, but very loving and very lovely.
“I know she’s not an anti-Semite. She is someone who actually really appreciates other cultures and really learns about them.”
