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 Trump’s recent “60 Minutes” interview and his pardon of Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the convicted founder of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. Hostin questioned Trump’s remarks, pointing out that the president claimed he didn’t know about the pardon or Zhao.
“The Trump family has made about $1.8 billion, profited off of this government and he said that Joe Biden didn’t know who he was pardoning using an autopen. How come you don’t know who this guy is?” Hostin asked.
Goldberg responded with a joke: “because he used an autopen.” Later, as the conversation continued, Hostin passed Goldberg a note requesting clarification about the comment.
“What the hell? What?” Goldberg said as she grabbed the note. “We don’t know if Trump used an autopen to pardon, it was a joke!” She then tore up the note, defending the humor of her remark. Hostin reiterated that they didn’t know whether Trump used an autopen.
Goldberg told the audience:
“I’m 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 they’re not saying something specific. Especially on this show. I’m very specific when I’m pointing stuff out. When I’m making jokes, you know when I’m making jokes. This is ridiculous.”
The co-host also used the moment to rail against Trump’s immigration policies:
“One thing that really upsets me about all of this is that when people do it legally, everybody b—-ed and moaned and said ‘they are not doing it legally,’ so people are showing up when they’re supposed to be showing up at court, and you’re scooping them up for immigrant checks… You seem to be having a good time while you’re doing it,” she said.
The audience applauded Goldberg’s passionate defense of both her joke and her broader criticism of government actions.
