‘The View’: Joy Behar Abruptly Ends Interview With GOP Candidate After Fiery Exchange

During Friday’s episode of The View, Maryland congressional candidate Kim Klacik brought up co-host Joy Behar‘s blackface incident while discussing the coronavirus pandemic. The discussion with the Republican candidate, who is running for the seat once held by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, got heated quickly and abruptly ended. After her appearance on the show, Klacik got the support of Donald Trump Jr., who said Behar “isn’t a big fan of strong conservative Black women.”

Behar asked Klacik about the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and said she avoided an earlier question about President Donald Trump’s remarks to author Bob Woodward. (“I wanted to always play it down,” Trump told Woodward about the coronavirus in an interview published in Rage. “I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.”) Behar told Klacik, “You have to put some blame on your president, I’m sorry. You’re putting it on something extraneous here. Talk to the point, please.”

Klacik then asked if it was “Joy speaking.” Behar said it was. “The same Joy that paraded around in blackface not too long ago? C’mon Joy, I don’t think you should be asking questions,” Klacik said. Behar said that was “not true” and the “Black community had my back,” adding, “That was an homage.” Klacik said the “Black community has my back,” to which Behar asked her to answer the question on the pandemic.

At that point, Sunny Hostin jumped in to dispute Klacik’s claim that the Black community supports her. According to the Baltimore Sun, Klacik lost the special election to fill Cummings’ seat 3-to-1 to Democrat Kweisi Mfume. “It was during a special election while we were still under [coronavirus] lockdown and I could not talk to people,” Klacik said before asking Hostin if she was “just going to speak over me.” Behar then told Klacik “good luck” and thanked her for being on the show. Just before it cut to commercial, Klacik added, “That was very immature but thank you for having me.”

Klacik was referring to a 2016 episode of The View when they showed a photo of Behar at a Halloween party when she was 29. She wore darkened skin and described the costume as a “beautiful African woman.” During that segment, then-co-host Raven-Symone called out Behar for the costume, reminding her, “You ain’t Black.” Trump Jr. brought up the photo during an appearance on the show in November 2019. In that episode, Behar said it was not blackface, as did Whoopi Goldberg.

Following the segment, Klacik took to Twitter. “The ladies of [The View] didn’t like what I had to say, so naturally they cut me off,” she wrote. “Why are they silencing Black Women? Hey, [Behar] — I think your White Privilege is showing through your blackface!” Trump Jr. also voiced his support, calling Behar the show’s “resident blackface enthusiast.” Klacik is running against Mfume again in November for a full term in the House.