Joy Reid: Whoopi Should Have NO PUNISHMENT for Holocaust Comments

One of the most insinuary and vile people on television believes there should be consequences. That’s the argument MSNBC’s Joy Reid made during Wednesday’s edition of ReidOut, suggesting that it would have been better for ABC to use Whoopi Goldberg’s (stage name) anti-Semitic remarks about the Holocaust as a “teachable moment” rather than suspending her for two weeks (aka a vacation).

“Plus, the fallout for Whoopi Goldberg comments about race and the Holocaust and whether that It could not have been as much about punishment but more about having an instructable moment,” she proclaimed in a pre-commercial tease.

In the second tease, she made clear that her goal was to keep Whoopi Goldberg on television. “Coming up, ABC suspends Whoopi Goldberg for her recent remarks on race and the Holocaust. The network missed a great opportunity to learn and discuss.” she wondered.

In reality, Reid wouldn’t extend such grace if Whoopi was a conservative or espoused right-wing politics.

Reid also defended Whoopi, noting that Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt had absolved her of any wrong doing.

REID: Hours after those comments, Goldberg apologized saying that she “misspoke.” She apologized again the following day. Jonathan Greenblatt (Anti-Defamation League CEO) joined Whoopi Goldberg and other View hosts in explaining how her comments were misleading and damaging.

(…)

REID: On Tuesday night, Greenblatt warned about unfairly condemning Goldberg over the comments, saying, “I don’t believe in cancel culture, we need counsel culture.”

The first panelist she brought on to discuss her premise was The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg, to which she cartoonishly asked: “What do you make of this situation and Imagine if you could be the king and make all things work the way that you wish., do you think that suspending her was the right move?”

Rosenberg’s position seemed reasonable: that people should be given the opportunity to learn and grow and we as a society should not hold people’s worst moments over their heads indefinitely. “Even when they apologize, there is a sense there needs to be consequences, that we need to punish someone or it doesn’t count,” he said.

Adding: “If I was king of the world, I would change that not just here but almost every situation that we do that. It’s crucial that there are consequences and accountability. But, I think, as a society especially in the age of social media with screenshots and reducing people to the worst.”

Reid then called on entertainment journalist Chris Witherspoon who thought the punishment didn’t allow The View to live up to its potential as a place to “learn” (click “expand”):

The View table can be a learning space. It’s important to remember what The View meant when it started. But it wasn’t always ABC News.

The show was first brought to ABC News by ABC Entertainment in 2014. It was originally under ABC Entertainment when it started. That show allowed for lively discussion, debate and learning from one another. And I feel like when you remove someone’s chair and you suspend them, you almost take away a chance to learn.

Witherspoon through Whoopi’s appearance with Stephen Colbert Monday night was ill-advised and she instead should have spent more time with co-host Sunny Hostin, because “her grandfather is a Sephardic Jew. She’s someone I believe also could kind of school Whoopi throughout this week if she was on the air about the nuances of the Jewish culture.”

Joy Reid’s advocacy on behalf of Whoopi was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Vicks and Liberty Mutual. The following links provide their contact information.

Below is the transcript. Click “expand to read:

MSNBC’s ReidOut
February 2, 2022
Eastern, 7:29:52

JOY RED: ABC is suspending Whoopi Goldberg over her remarks about race and the Holocaust. Was the opportunity missed by ABC to have a great discussion? Hmm. Hmm.

(…)

Eastern: 7:34 p.m.

REID: ABC News suspended Whoopi goldberg last night for two consecutive weeks The ViewThe discussion was held a day following a Tennessee school board’s ban on graphic novel Maus. This is a book about Nazi death camps during WWII.

(…)

REID: Hours after those comments, Goldberg apologized saying that she “misspoke.” She apologized again the following day. Jonathan Greenblatt (Anti-Defamation League CEO) joined Whoopi Goldberg and other ViewHosts to discuss how their comments were harmful and inaccurate.

(…)

REID: On Tuesday night, Greenblatt warned about unfairly condemning Goldberg over the comments, saying, “I don’t believe in cancel culture, we need counsel culture.”

Yair Rosenberg is a contributing writer to The Atlantic, where he creates the Deep Shtetl newsletter. Chris Witherspoon, entertainment journalist and founder of PopViewers. We are grateful for your presence.

And I’m going to start with you Mr. Rosenberg. So, here is ABC News’s — this is her statement. Kim Goodwin has been named the president of ABC News. And she wrote, “While Whoopi 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.”

How do you feel about this? Would you rather have her suspended if you were the King of the World and had the power to make things happen exactly the way you wanted them?

YAIRROSENBERG: I believe that ABC did this here because it is increasingly what people do when a public person or an individual in their lives makes a mistake. It is important to understand that even though they may have apologized, it does not mean there are no consequences. We must punish the person or their apology won’t be accepted. Not only do we accept their apology, but also express our hope that they will improve and grow.

If I were king, the things I do would be different. It’s crucial that there are consequences and accountability. I believe that we’ve become an intolerant society, especially with social media, where people are reduced to tweets about the worst, and this has led to a society which doesn’t offer any opportunity for individuals to learn, change or to apologize.

Whoopi then apologized to the audience. And she understood what she said was incorrect and it’s led to this great conversation where people are learning things they otherwise wouldn’t have learned and wouldn’t that be a better conversation to have had on The ViewYou can also take Whoopi off The Viewand to then end the conversation. This is more of what I want to see.

(…)

REID: Indeed.

Chris, let’s get to the TV of it, cause there’s a lot to pack in. One, I was curious if there had been a publicist in the interview she did that night. That’s what I am curious about. Can you let us in on a bit of the inside? What happened to her? The ViewIt was a reaction. What do you think of it?

CHRIS WITHERSPOON – I don’t think she should have continued on to the next stage. Colbert Report — on a Colbert show because it wasn’t really thought out. It felt like she could have put it aside for the next day to produce something that was more thought out and thoughtful.

If you take a look at the table you will see that there is so much that could be learned. The View. What do you think? The ViewWhen it was first launched, that’s what it was supposed to be. But it wasn’t always ABC News.

The show was first brought to ABC News by ABC Entertainment in 2014. It was originally under ABC Entertainment when it started. That show allowed for lively discussion, debate and learning from one another. And I feel like when you remove someone’s chair and you suspend them, you almost take away a chance to learn.

Oprah always stated that her talkshow was a classroom on the best days of her career. This is something I am thinking a lot about. This is what I believe. The ViewYou can be a teacher or a student on some days. Suspending someone means they are no longer able to attend class or learn.

I think Whoopi being there and coming back, she’ll be able to learn and get schooled by her other panelists. Her grandfather, Sunny Hostin is a Sephardic Jew. Sunny Hostin is the granddaughter of a Sephardic Jew. She’s someone I believe also could kind of school Whoopi throughout this week if she was on the air about the nuances of the Jewish culture.

(…)