Talk about awkward.
Joy Behar — perhaps the most rabid leftist among co-hosts of “The View” — on Thursday’s show characterized Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as “a black guy” who also has a brain cell or two. “I’ll give it to him — he’s a smart guy,” Behar said soon after.
Behar also blasted Thomas as “to the right of Attila the Hun.” And to top it off, she also used air quotes when describing Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett as a “woman.”
What are the details?
The topic at hand was the coming retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer — one of three liberals on the 9-member Supreme Court — and President Joe Biden’s campaign promise that his first nominee to the SCOTUS would be a black woman.
With that, the co-hosts took some shots at Thomas, a conservative who’s only the second-ever black Supreme Court justice and who also endured huge opposition from the left prior to his 1991 confirmation.
Co-host Sunny Hostin, herself an attorney, said Thomas “doesn’t really represent the black community” — and at a different point in the show said his nomination to the high court was “terribly disrespectful” since he succeeded Thurgood Marshall, the only other black SCOTUS justice ever, since Marshall differed philosophically from Thomas and was a supporter of civil rights.
‘I’ll give it to him — he’s a smart guy’
Then Behar dug her claws into Thomas, initially doing her best to not sound racist when she described Thomas as “a black guy, a black man, a justice, OK? I’ll give it to him — he’s a smart guy.”
One wonders what the reaction on “The View” would have been if a conservative like former co-host Meghan McCain had referred to a man of color she was criticizing as “a black guy” and then added, “I’ll give it to him — he’s a smart guy.”
Behar then said Thomas is “to the right of Attila the Hun” politically speaking and added that he was nominated so that “a black man will go against voting rights. Which is what he does.”
She also attacked Barrett, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump to fill the court’s vacancy after the death of staunchly liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020. Barrett’s confirmation tipped the political balance of the court greatly in favor of conservatives, 6-3.
Behar said Barrett was “put in there” because she’s a “white woman” who would “go against abortion rights” — and then soon after used air quotes when describing Barrett as a “woman.”
Behar’s comments about Thomas and Barrett hit at the 7:20 mark:
What was the reaction?
Folks on Twitter picked up on the tone of the show and let “The View” have it:
- “Bigotry from The View,” wrote Nicolas Fondacaro, deputy managing editor of NewsBusters. “The panel accuses Justice … Thomas of being a race traitor and Justice Coney Barrett of being a traitor to women.”
- “You guys are freaking disgusting,” another commenter said of the show.
- Another user said “The View” is rife with “left wing hate and intolerance. You also are racist as well all the while preaching to others.”
- “You people are as bad for America as any communist scourge,” another commenter responded to the show. “Just so amazingly out of touch.”