Bill Maher Defends Whoopi Goldberg Holocaust Remarks, Despite Past Clashes

Bill Maher has defended Whoopi Goldberg, who is at the center of controversy about comments she made about the Holocaust.

Maher said the co-host of The View "should not be canceled or put off her show, as much as I totally disagree with her crazy statement," before he added, "free speech. She should be there, she shouldn't get a time out."

Goldberg was suspended by ABC News for two weeks after she said that the Holocaust was "not about race," but rather about "man's inhumanity to man."

She later tweeted, "I am sorry for the hurt I have caused" adding "I also stand with the Jewish people," in an apology that was welcomed by the Anti-Defamation League.

But the Real Time host backed Goldberg and said that the controversy showed that "the problem in America" is that "there is just one view, one true opinion and everyone else can go sit in the corner."

He said that there needed to be understanding that "part of our sorry racial history in this country is that the point of view from a Black person is often going to be very different and sometimes shocking to a White person?"

Maher then referred to Goldberg's defense of ex-NFL player Michael Vick, who admitted his involvement in a dog-fighting ring in 2008. Goldberg had said that Vick is "from the South" who had come "from a culture where this is not questioned."

Maher said: "I don't agree with her on Michael Vick but we grew up in two different worlds, which the White people imposed upon the Black people. They are going to sometimes have a very different opinion."

"The answer is not to make them sit in a corner for two weeks," said Maher of Goldberg's punishment which he described as "so insulting" as he took aim at ABC News' response that Goldberg "reflect and learn about the impact of her comments."

Maher continued: "How insulting for someone of her age, who is a sophisticated person...there is no impact," as he said there were no "neo-Nazis" waiting for the go ahead from Goldberg "to go out and do a new Kristallnacht."

Maher has often clashed with Goldberg, who last month criticized the HBO show's host for calling COVID-19 mitigation efforts "bananas." Goldberg said "how dare you be so flippant, man?"

Last year, the pair were at odds over Maher's objection to the singing before certain NFL games of two hymns, "Lift every Voice and Sing", also known as the Black national anthem, and "The Star-Spangled Banner."

On Friday, Maher said of Goldberg, "I hope is still a friend—we can disagree with each other."