Joy Behar is one of the hosts of the show The View, a popular midday talk show. The show is known for its liberal slant and lively conversations about hot topics. Joy Behar recently got herself into trouble after what many are calling homophobic remarks on the show. Behar and the show’s co-hosts were discussing an NFL player named Carl Nassib. Nassib is the first active NFL player in history to come out as gay. Behar downplayed the significance of this development. “Is this really such a big deal?” she asked, noting that “it’s 2021” and that someone coming out as gay in the NFL really isn’t that much of a big deal. Her co-hosts strongly disagreed, noting that Nassib would face a difficult journey in the NFL since all of his teammates would know about his sexual orientation.
Behar wasn’t done with her controversial remarks, however. She ended the segment with a homophobic note, picking fun at Nassib’s sexual orientation. “You know, after they said penetration in the end zone, they lost me,” Behar remarked. Her co-hosts didn’t find the joke funny at all. Meghan McCain, Anna Navarro, and Sara Haines were all visibly shaken by Behar’s joke. Obviously, they didn’t expect her to say something like this. Clearly, jokes like this would never be made about any other player’s sexual orientation. Behar has long been an advocate for LGBTQ+ issues, but in this particular instance, she seems rather unimpressed. Clearly, she thinks that a player’s orientation on sexual matters just shouldn’t matter so much in this day and age. Perhaps she is right about that, but this certainly downplays the significance of the fact that Nassib will be the only openly gay player in the entire NFL in 2021. Behar’s nonchalance toward the issue doesn’t excuse the crude joke that she made at Nassib’s response.
Behar might have thought that her comments were no big deal, but the internet clearly did not agree. Twitter erupted with criticism of the daytime tv host. Some even called for her to resign over the joke. Some pointed out the media’s bias in that if a conservative commentator had made such a crude joke about a gay man on live tv, they would be pressured by their own network to resign. Users on Twitter wanted Behar to be held accountable for the things she said. Others came to her defense, however. One user who described himself as a “flaming homosexual” said that the joke was crude, but that it didn’t offend him “at all.” Whatever is to be made of Behar’s commentary, it is clear that Nassib’s openness about his sexual orientation has caused little fanfare. Nasisb is a defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Raiders. He came out on an Instagram video, where he announced that he was gay. He states his intentions for coming out as a desire to help cultivate a more open and accepting environment in the NFL and in the world. To date, Behar is still a co-host on The View.
