Ana Navarro Breaks Silence On Whoopi Goldberg Controversy

It is very easy to make comments that can rub people the wrong way. These comments are even more dangerous when they are about sensitive issues and are made by high-profile people in front of millions of viewers.

A perfect example is Whoopi Goldberg's recent controversy concerning her statements about the Holocaust on the talk show The View. She faced severe public backlash and was eventually suspended for two weeks from the show.

Her co-host Ana Navarro has broken her silence regarding Goldberg's statements and the resulting controversy. Read on to learn more about what Goldberg said, her suspension, and Navarro's statements.

Goldberg was recently at the center of negative controversy after making some comments about the Holocaust that were unsettling to many viewers and fans. On the January 31st episode of The View, she said, "Let's be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn't about race. It's not about race. It's about man's inhumanity to man."

The fallout from her comments was swift, and when Navarro was asked about her opinions of the controversy, she defended her co-star and her character. Despite their constantly differing opinions, the co-hosts of The View have a strong camaraderie.

Navarro spoke to The Daily Beast and said, "I love Whoopi Goldberg. I love The View. This was an incredibly unfortunate incident. Whoopi is a lifelong ally to the Jewish community. She is not an antisemite. Period. I am sad. And I have nothing else to say."

After the episode ended, public scrutiny immediately sprang up, criticizing her and the show's producers. She later made another appearance on the February 1st episode where she addressed the controversy and apologized to the audience and general public for her statements.

Goldberg said, "I said something that I feel a responsibility for not leaving unexamined because my words upset so many people, which was never my intention. I understand why now, and for that I am deeply, deeply grateful because the information I got was really helpful, and it helped me understand some different things."

She explained further about the reasoning behind her statements and said, "I said the Holocaust wasn't about race and was instead about man's inhumanity to man. But it is indeed about race because Hitler and the Nazis considered Jews to be an inferior race. Now, words matter, and mine are no exception. I regret my comments, as I said, and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people as they know, and y'all know because I've always done that."

The day after her controversial Holocaust comments, The View talked about why Goldberg's statements and views were wrong. Days later, when the February 1st episode was over, Kim Goodwin, the president of ABC News, released a press statement that announced that Goldberg was suspended from the show for two weeks.

The statement read, "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."

Meghan McCain is a former co-host of The View, and despite her success after the show, she couldn't resist commenting on Goldberg's controversy. She wrote a column on the Daily Mail where she called out Goldberg and the network for their double standards regarding reprimanding their liberal and conservative hosts during controversies.

McCain wrote, "In the world of media, there are people who will never face the same ramifications and repercussions that others will. There's a double, triple, and even quadruple standard if you are conservative."

Her column went further to say, "I hope this can be used as a teachable moment to explain to millions of Americans why conflating the Holocaust as something that is specific and limited to 'white people' is insane, ahistorical, and anti-Semitic."