Amid the extremely tense segments with Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle on The View‘s milestone 5,000th episode, there was a moment of levity when moderator Whoopi Goldberg the bell meant to signalize the end of an argument among panelists. The instance made audience members, as well as viewers at home, grateful, for the short-lived break from arguing and hostility.
The instance started when co-host Sunny Hostin questioned Trump over a comment he made about Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden‘s son, Hunter Biden. The debate about nepotism grew stauncher and stauncher as Hostin brought up President Donald Trump‘s success in the hotel industry after 2016 alone, with the audience becoming involved in both sides of the argument.
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Eventually, too many people were talking over each other, which led to Goldberg dinging the bell three times in a row. But Trump continued to speak, and co-host Meghan McCain told Goldberg to “stop” ringing the bell, to which Goldberg replied, “Listen, don’t do that. Don’t do that.” Still being ignored, she piped up louder, “Excuse me!”
“Thank you,” she said after finally getting the attention of the table. “The crosstalking is making everyone crazy. When I hit the bell it’s to keep y’all from crosstalking. Please stop.”
“I’m new here,” Trump responded to a laugh from the crowd. “Sorry.”
“That’s all right,” Goldberg said, before co-host Abby Huntsman steered the discussion toward 2020.
The brief moment was enough to make an impact on social media, where users chimed in and thanked Goldberg for getting the segment back on the rails.
Whoopi was two seconds from jumping across that table and popping NutMeg McCain right in her crusty mouth. 😳 #TheView
Giving me childhood flashbacks. 😩
Meghan: “Can we please stop it with the bell?”
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) November 7, 2019
Whoopi: *points right at her face* “Listen. Don’t do that.” 😒
Meghan: 🥴 pic.twitter.com/3Xr4WOWcuX
Smack that damn bell, Whoopi! #TheView
— debbiecat (@debbiecat4) November 7, 2019
Lol at Whoppi for having to continuously ring her Bell to keep everyone in line 😂 #TheView
— Francesca Epps (@Chessie_K) November 7, 2019
“bells ringing, the gloves are off on #TheView,” one Twitter user wrote.
“The bell sure is getting a workout today! DING DING DING!” someone else said.
That wasn’t the only tense moment on Thursday’s milestone episode. Co-host Joy Behar‘s crack about President Donald Trump being “not that rich” made headlines, as did co-host Meghan McCain‘s questioning of Trump’s “character.” The crowd was reportedly booing during the segment — which is a big no-no on The View — and Trump Jr. accused Behar of blackface.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were also reports that Trump and Guilfoyle clashed with the co-hosts behind the scenes of the daytime talk show.