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 Trumpâs recent â60 Minutesâ interview and his pardon of Changpeng âCZâ Zhao, the convicted founder of Binance, the worldâs largest crypto exchange. Hostin questioned Trumpâs remarks, pointing out that the president claimed he didnât know about the pardon or Zhao.
âThe Trump family has made about $1.8 billion, profited off of this government and he said that Joe Biden didnât know who he was pardoning using an autopen. How come you donât know who this guy is?â Hostin asked.
Goldberg responded with a joke: âbecause he used an autopen.â Later, as the conversation continued, Hostin passed Goldberg a note requesting clarification about the comment.
âWhat the hell? What?â Goldberg said as she grabbed the note. âWe donât know if Trump used an autopen to pardon, it was a joke!â She then tore up the note, defending the humor of her remark. Hostin reiterated that they didnât know whether Trump used an autopen.
Goldberg told the audience:
âIâm 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 theyâre not saying something specific. Especially on this show. Iâm very specific when Iâm pointing stuff out. When Iâm making jokes, you know when Iâm making jokes. This is ridiculous.â
The co-host also used the moment to rail against Trumpâs immigration policies:
âOne thing that really upsets me about all of this is that when people do it legally, everybody bâ-ed and moaned and said âthey are not doing it legally,â so people are showing up when theyâre supposed to be showing up at court, and youâre scooping them up for immigrant checks⊠You seem to be having a good time while youâre doing it,â she said.
The audience applauded Goldbergâs passionate defense of both her joke and her broader criticism of government actions.