Whoopi Goldberg criticised for saying the Holocaust ‘isn’t about race’

US talk show host Whoopi Goldberg has drawn criticism after saying that the Holocaust was not “about race”.

The presenter, who co-hosts The View on ABC, said the historic atrocity was about “man’s inhumanity to man”.

Goldberg made the comments on the show during a discussion about a Tennessee school board’s decision to ban Pulitzer prize-winning Holocaust graphic novel Maus.

Speaking more broadly about the atrocity, she said: “Let’s be truthful, the Holocaust isn’t about race, it’s not.”

“It’s about man’s inhumanity to man, that’s what it’s about. These are two groups of white people.”

She continued: “You’re missing the point…let’s talk about it for what it really is. It’s about how people treat each other.

“It’s a problem. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, Jews…everybody eats each other.”

Her comments were condemned by activists online as “dangerous” following the show’s broadcast.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL): “No @WhoopiGoldberg, the Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people – who they deemed to be an inferior race.

“They dehumanized them and used this racist propaganda to justify slaughtering 6 million Jews.

“Holocaust distortion is dangerous.”

StopAntisemitism.org said Goldberg’s comments had “minimised” the trauma and suffering caused by the atrocity.

“Newsflash @WhoopiGoldberg 6 million of us were gassed, starved and massacred because we were deemed an inferior race by the Nazis,” the organisation wrote.

“How dare you minimize our trauma and suffering!”