Billionaire Ronald Lauder is warning against a “rising tide of Jew hatred,” ripping Whoopi Goldberg along with the Tennessee School District which banned the Pulitzer Prize winning Holocaust book Maus — and offering to send them all free copies.
“These latest waves in the rising tide of Jew hatred pose a grave danger to Jews the world over, and are only fueled further by the willful cowardice of those who mask their true bigotry behind ignorance,” Lauder told The Post. “Both the McMinn County School Board and Ms. Goldberg should be ashamed of themselves for their complicit role in fostering Jew hatred, and I fully condemn their actions in the strongest possible terms.”
Goldberg was suspended from “The View ” for two weeks following sustained outrage
after claiming on the show the Holocaust was not about race. Goldberg, who later apologized, made her remarks during a discussion about the McMinn County’s decision to pull Maus.
The 1991 Graphic Novel and Pulitzer Prize winner tells the story of author Art Spiegelman’s father and his experience as a survivor of the Holocaust. The book was removed from schools in McMinn County officially about concerns about violence, nudity and swearing.
Lauder, a longtime New York City philanthropist, education activist and president of the World Jewish Congress, said he would pay for an effort to send free copies of Maus to all 53,794 people in McMinn County — and to Goldberg too.
Team Lauder said they were working with Ryan Higgins, owner of the California -based Comics Conspiracy, who went viral on social media after originally promise to pay for and deliver up to 100 copies of the book to anyone in the district.
“Mr. Higgins is an exemplar of anti-hate leadership and I am deeply grateful to him for standing up to the faces of ignorance. I’m proud to fund his incredible work and will also personally be sending copies of ‘Maus’ to Ms. Goldberg and the entire staff of ‘The View.’,” Lauder said.
