Joy Behar addressed her controversial makeup choices long before Donald Trump Jr. accused her of blackface on Thursday’s episode of The View. President Donald Trump’s son caused an uproar at one point in the episode as he defended his father’s character and taking jabs at Behar’s past comments about Mexicans, handicapped individuals, African Americans, women and immigrants.
“We have all done things that we regret. If we’re talking about bringing the discourse down, Joy. You have worn blackface,” Trump Jr. said during his appearance on the ABC morning show. “Whoopi, you said that Roman Polanski – it wasn’t ‘rape-rape’ when he raped a child.”
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The comments led to a full-blown argument between the co-hosts and their guest, as both Behar and Goldberg came to the defense of the former’s past makeup mishap.
Trump Jr. referred to a previous controversy in which Behar attended a Halloween party back in the 1970s dressed as a “beautiful African woman,” which included darkening her face with makeup. The morning talk show co-host previously addressed it in a 2016 episode.
“That is me. I was 29. It was a Halloween party, I went as a beautiful African woman. That’s my hair,” Behar said. “I had makeup that was a little bit darker than my skin, but that’s my actual hair, though.”
“You mean blackface,” then fellow co-host Raven-Symoné responded, though she later said she “loved” Behar’s costume.
The show ran a photo of Behar in the outfit, causing Symoné to audibly gasp at the image.
“Joy, are you my auntie, Joy?” Symoné said, The Wrap first recalled. “She looks black.”
Here’s the picture of @TheView‘s Joy Behar in blackface. #FactsFirst https://t.co/Qi884fWOox
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 7, 2019
On Thursday’s episode, Behar and Goldberg maintained Behar’s past controversy was not blackface.
“Okay, so let’s talk about this. So you want to bring this up?” Goldberg asked.
“I did not go in blackface,” Behar said.
“No, she was not in blackface,” Goldberg agreed. “Listen, being black, I recognize blackface, this I can say.” The conversation then spiraled into a big argument. After the show ended, Trump Jr. took to Twitter to back up his claims.
Trump Jr.’s eventful appearance also brought some awkward moments to the show’s 5,000th episode. Reports surfaced Goldberg had to tell the audience to stop booing on the guests.
“The booing is f—ing us up,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg reportedly told the audience during a commercial break. “It’s messing with everyone’s mic. You can grimace and all that. All we hear is booing.”
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
