GMB viewers praise David Baddiel for ‘eloquent’ explanation of Whoopi Goldberg’s ‘dangerous’ Holocaust remarks

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Good Morning Britain viewers are praising David Baddiel for his nuanced discussion about Whoopi Goldberg’s “dangerous” Holocaust remarks.

Comedian and writer Baddiel appeared on the ITV series on Wednesday (2 February) to talk about the controversy surrounding the Sister Act star, who has been suspended from The View for saying the Holocaust “isn’t about race”.

Goldberg, who has issued two apologies, said on Monday’s (31 January) episode of the US talk show: “The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley. Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s how people treat each other. That’s the problem.”

Speaking about Goldberg’s comments, Baddiel told GMB hosts Susanna Reid and Adil Ray: “The problem with it is there are so many issues – and I’m a fan of Whoopi Goldberg’s – but there are so many issues with what she said. It does reveal an awful lot about the confusions people have around antisemitism that are explored in my book.

“One of the principle things going on here is the resistance to the idea that antisemitisim is racism,” he continued. “What does Whoopi Goldberg think it is? What a lot of people think it is is religious intolerance.”

Baddiel’s book, Jews Don’t Count, explores his contention that “those who think of themselves as on the right side of history have often ignored the history of antisemitism” and that “Jews don’t count as a real minority”.

On GMB, he continued by saying that “the Nazis were not interested in faith; they were interested in racial purity”.

“There's a specific thing that I think is going on here,” he explained. “The whiteness of Jews is a very complex thing.”

Baddiel went on to explain a phrase he uses in his book – “Schrodinger’s whiteness” – which he said means that Jews are seen as white or non-white depending on the politics of the observer”.

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He said that “for centuries... far-right groups have seen Jews as not part of the white race”, adding that “on the far left, the association of Jews, which is a racist thing, with power and privilege makes them kind of super white”.

Baddiel stated: “What that ends up with is it takes away from the specifics of the racism to something very bland and general. But what’s going on here is a very particular type of genocide.”

He also questioned Goldberg’s comments on The Late Show With Steven Colbert, in which she described the Holocaust as “two sides fighting”.

“This was not two sides fighting; this was an ethnic group being marked out to be destroyed by a military industrial machine,” Baddiel said.

The Holocaust is widely defined as the state-sanctioned extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany across Europe during the Second World War. It is estimated that around six million Jews were killed, as well as millions of others including foreigners, disabled people and homosexuals.

The Nazis’ persecution of Jews was explicitly racial, rather than religious. “Judenpolitik” targeted not only practising Jews but also people who had converted to Christianity, and those with Jewish grandparents.

Goldberg was widely criticised for her comments, which were branded “ignorant” and “dangerous”.

Baddiel, though, has been praised for his measured response on GMB.

“That was a very intelligent and eloquent explanation by David Baddiel,” one viewer said on Twitter, with another adding: “Well done @Baddiel for calling this out and explaining to the world in such an eloquent way.”

One viewer thanked Baddiel “for always being able to articulate what I feel but struggle to explain or get others to understand”.