“The View” co-host Joy Behar tried to make what she thought would be an encouraging pro-COVID vaccination statement aimed toward Black people, but the resulting backlash from viewers only proved that she only succeeded in putting her foot in her mouth.
Behar posed a question to the table during the Oct. 7 episode about what they feel is the best way to motivate the Black community to get vaccinated. Noting that she sympathized with the community’s history with the government and experimentation, Behar explained that she doesn’t understand the continued hesitancy because “so many white people” have been vaccinated already that “the experiment has been done” on them.
“How do we get through to people, like the Black audience, for instance? The African-American community, who has been burnt in the past by the Tuskeegee experiment and by things coming out that have harmed them,” she said. “I don’t blame that community for being skittish about it, but I say that so many white people have gotten it now. The experiment has been done on white people now!”
“I think you’re right,” Ana Navarro responded in agreement. “Who were the first people jumping the line? Flying all over the country to get the vaccine? Rich white people of privilege and Republican donors.”
Sunny Hostin called out a recent uptick in Black vaccination rates to her co-hosts. “Although the Black community, I have read the vaccine hesitancy is lower and that the Black community is now being vaccinated at a higher rate than anyone in the country,” she said.
According to recent COVID-vaccination data from the CDC cited in a Kaiser Family Foundation report, “the percent of White people who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose (54%) was 1.2 times higher than the rate for Black people (46%) and 1.1 times higher than the rate for Hispanic people (51%) as of October 4, 2021.”
Behar received an answer to her question from Black viewers, who shared on Instagram that they preferred she didn’t broach the subject matter at all and kept her opinions to herself.
“Joy… gone head and log out for me mama”
“She can shut up. White ppl need to stop telling black ppl what to accept, how to feel, etc. Her statement is tone deaf af.”
“You see Whoopi was quiet and irked”
“Joy getting a lil too comfortable”
“I’m tired of white people trying to tell black people how to feel about anything. Bye Joy 🙄This is crazy”
