'I Sincerely Apologize for What I Said' -The View Host, Joy Behar Relents and Apologizes to All Christians She Insulted

Mark Martin : Mar 13, 2018
CBN News

The apology comes one month after Behar made her remarks on the Feb. 13 "The View", setting off an outcry of protest, including more than 30,000 complaining calls to ABC and calls for a boycott.

(Washington, DC)—[CBN News] "The View" co-host Joy Behar publicly apologized Tuesday morning for her comments mocking Vice President Mike Pence's faith. (Image: VP Mike Pence and Joy Behar of The View/CBN News)

The show opened with co-host Whoopi Goldberg referring to Pence's appearance on Monday's "Hannity" program on Fox News and then played a clip of Pence saying he asked Behar to make her apology in public.

Behar then addressed the audience, looking directly into the camera, and said: "I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said."

The apology comes one month after Behar made her remarks on the Feb. 13 "The View", setting off an outcry of protest, including more than 30,000 complaining calls to ABC and calls for a boycott.

After revelations that she personally apologized to Pence, the calls for a public apology grew louder.

On Monday's "Hannity," Pence described the phone call.

"I felt it was important that I defend the faith of tens of millions of Americans against that kind of slander," Pence told Sean Hannity. "And I did so."

"And I give Joy Behar a lot of credit," Pence continued. "She picked up the phone; she called me; she was very sincere, and she apologized."

"And one of the things my faith teaches me is grace; forgive as you've been forgiven," the vice president explained. "I said to Joy, 'Of course, I forgive you. That's part of my faith experience.'"

"But I did encourage her, and I'm still encouraging her to use the forum of that program or some other public forum to apologize to tens of millions of Americans who were equally offended," Pence continued.

The offensive comments took place on the February 13 show when co-hosts discussed comments on Pence's beliefs made by an ex-White House staffer. (Screengrab: Joy Behar apologizes for her comments mocking Christians hearing from Jesus/The View/ABC)

"It's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct, hearing voices," Behar said.

Co-host Sunny Hostin said, "I'm Catholic; I'm a faithful person, but I don't know that I want my vice president speaking in tongues and having Jesus speak to him."

The vice president is not the only one wanting Behar to make a public apology.

Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, a conservative group that has led a campaign to hold "The View" accountable for the comments, said ABC needs to go beyond a private apology to make up for the offense.

"It is a good first step that Joy Behar privately apologized to Vice President Pence, but it is not nearly enough," Bozell said in a statement released by MRC. "Behar and ABC need to publicly apologize for the bigoted slurs on 'The View.'"

"When they do that, this whole matter will be put to rest. Until they do, we will not let up our campaign to let the world—including their advertisers—know of their anti-Christian bigotry," he said.

Christian groups have signed on to an MRC campaign calling on viewers to turn off the morning program, and it's also calling on companies to pull their ads from the show. A number of religious leaders agreed "enough is enough" to what they see as anti-Christian bias displayed on the network.

Bestselling author and conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder tweeted Saturday, "If @JoyVBehar has said 'people who talk to Allah had a mental illness,' she'd have been placed under 24/7 security protection. Behar has apologized to @VP Pence, but refuses to apologize ON AIR to the millions of Christians she insulted. Christians can be demeaned with impunity."

Conservative actor James Woods tweeted Friday, "#JoyBehar thinks we are mentally ill. Her manager offered a classic liberal 'apology' behind closed doors that none of us received. Will my 1.3 million followers join with me in turning off @ABC until Joy Behar is fired or apologizes to US? #BoycottABC"

CBN News has previously reached out to ABC for comment. The network has not yet responded to our inquiries.