Whoopie Goldberg, commentator on Disney’s ABC network, known for her position on The View, has been suspended for two weeks following her statements on the holocaust having had nothing to do with race. Clearly those remarks are ahistorical and diminish the accurate understanding that Adolf Hitler sought to commit genocide against a group of people he believed to be an inferior race: the Jews.
If you’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it. Because the Holocaust isn’t about race. No, it’s not about race.
— Whoopie Goldberg
That Park Place takes no position as to whether or not Whoopie Goldberg should be fired, suspended, or allowed to continue. However, it is relevant that the treatment of Goldberg for far more insidious statements is very different than the treatment of Roseanne Barr and Gina Carano. While readers may believe that all three women are guilty of seriously offensive communications, or perhaps some are and some aren’t, it’s hard to deny that the outcomes are totally unaligned. In the case of Roseanne Barr, she was fired rapidly over an offensive comment towards a woman that she said she didn’t know was African American. In the case of Gina Carano, she was fired with a disparaging comment from Lucasfilm given to the press.
The Disney Responses to Whoopie Goldberg and Gina Carano Are Very Different
Goldberg, on the other hand, was given an appearance on The Tonight Show to clean up her mistake. When she complicated it instead, she had another chance to apologize the next day on her show. When that didn’t work, she was placed on a two week suspension that seems to have no financial impact.
Entertainment, as well as political commentary, is a messy job. Companies have the right to pick who they want and who they don’t want to be employed and reprsenting the company. In the case of The Walt Disney Company, however, they may have a serious situation on their hands in that their treatment of personalities is highly dependent (apparently) on their political beliefs.
Perhaps the grace being offered to Whoopie Goldberg could be offered to others in the future.
