Whoopi Goldberg: More than 36,000 people sign petition to remove star from The View

A petition calling for Whoopi Goldberg to be removed from The View has reached more than 36,000 signatures.

In the 31 January episode of The View, Goldberg made the controversial claim that the Holocaust “is not about race”.

At the time, Goldberg was discussing a Tennessee school board’s controversial decision to ban Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis.

Goldberg said: “Let’s be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No. It’s not about race!”

She repeatedly tried to prove her point that the Holocaust was about “man’s inhumanity to man” despite protestations from her co-hosts.

Now, a petition on Change.org set up after the event demanding that Goldberg “be fired from the daytime TV show for her repulsive verbiage and actions”, has reached more than 36,000 signatures.

It states: “Whoopi has made numerous remarks about race that have ruffled feathers. But her most recent comment attacking victims of the holocaust and the entire Jewish community are disgusting.

“Apologies are not enough when it comes to things like this. This can and will not be forgotten.”

After the controversy, Goldberg issued numerous apologies for her remarks and was suspended from the ABC show for two weeks.