On Monday, The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg dramatically tore up a note from fellow co-host Sunny Hostin asking her to clarify a joke about President Donald Trump using an autopen.
According to Fox News, the moment occurred during a discussion of Trumpās recent ā60 Minutesā interview and his pardon of Changpeng āCZā Zhao, the convicted founder of Binance, the worldās largest crypto exchange. Hostin questioned Trumpās remarks, pointing out that the president claimed he didnāt know about the pardon or Zhao.
āThe Trump family has made about $1.8 billion, profited off of this government and he said that Joe Biden didnāt know who he was pardoning using an autopen. How come you donāt know who this guy is?ā Hostin asked.
Goldberg responded with a joke: ābecause he used an autopen.ā Later, as the conversation continued, Hostin passed Goldberg a note requesting clarification about the comment.
āWhat the hell? What?ā Goldberg said as she grabbed the note. āWe donāt know if Trump used an autopen to pardon, it was a joke!ā She then tore up the note, defending the humor of her remark. Hostin reiterated that they didnāt know whether Trump used an autopen.
Goldberg told the audience:
āIām sorry. The hardest thing about this job now is no one understands nuance. You know when you hear a joke, when somebody is fooling around, when theyāre not saying something specific. Especially on this show. Iām very specific when Iām pointing stuff out. When Iām making jokes, you know when Iām making jokes. This is ridiculous.ā
The co-host also used the moment to rail against Trumpās immigration policies:
āOne thing that really upsets me about all of this is that when people do it legally, everybody bā-ed and moaned and said āthey are not doing it legally,ā so people are showing up when theyāre supposed to be showing up at court, and youāre scooping them up for immigrant checks⦠You seem to be having a good time while youāre doing it,ā she said.
The audience applauded Goldbergās passionate defense of both her joke and her broader criticism of government actions.
