Joy Behar Apologizes For Backhanded Comment About The New Zealand Shootings

Joy Behar, co-host of The View, has apologized for a comment that she feels came off as “flippant” in regards to the tragic shootings in New Zealand, as The Huffington Post reported.

Behar began bantering with a member sitting in the audience of the talk show, one who stood up to shout in celebration that it was his birthday. The young man said that his attendance at the show was his “best birthday ever,” and he was met by loud cheers from the crowd — as well as from the panel of The View.

Behar’s co-anchors smiled and waved at the man while offering him well wishes. The audience member revealed that he watched the show every day, and as the chatter died down, Behar jumped in with what she felt was a backhanded dismissal of the shootings.

Behar started out by saying that she realized everyone was in a good mood, but that she wanted to start the program off with the breaking news of the New Zealand shootings. She updated the audience with the most current information on the tragedy, and revealed that three people were in custody — along with the confirmation that 49 people had lost their lives.

“It’s just awful, it’s scary, the whole world is really scary right now. OK, now you can get back to being happy again. We’re sad for them, but what are we going to do? It’s terrible.”

After making the comment, Behar looked almost taken aback at her words. She quickly jumped into a piece about politics. The panel discussed the topic brought forth by Behar, and when the show returned from a commercial break, Behar apologized for her insensitive remarks about the tragic shootings.

“I have a little bit of a bad feeling about how I set up and talked about the New Zealand tragedy. I think I sounded as though I was just, like, flippant about it, you know, and I’m not. I’m very upset about it,” she said.

Behar also added that sometimes it can be difficult to segue from one topic to another, and that the audience seemed so happy that the show had begun, she didn’t know how to properly transition from their cheers to bringing forth the devastating news.

“So if I came across a little brittle, it’s only because you guys are happy, and a sad, terrible thing happened,” she added.

This is not the first time Behar has expressed regret for her remarks. Last year, the anchor publicly apologized to Mike Pence — as well as to the Christian community — for comparing Christianity with mental illness, as The L.A. Times shared. She said that she doesn’t mean to offend people, but somehow it keeps happening — while noting that “comedians are in danger these days.”