Even by its standards, ABC’s Friday edition of The View was deranged. The cantankerous quintet welcomed actor, comedian, and professional race hustler John Leguizamo to the show to baselessly accuse the Trump Administration of running “pogroms,” among several other racially inflammatory statements.
Joy Behar began with DEI, “You once told me about the fact that, according to you, DEI, which is what you say you are, stands for diligence, excellence and imagination. So tell me what your reaction is to Trump's executive order terminating all the DEI mandates, policies, and programs in the federal government?”
Trump may have the nation’s first Secretary of State, but that didn’t stop Leguizamo from declaring, “It's terrible. I mean, they’re removing plaques of black and Latino and women heroes, just, I mean, what kind of action is that? It's like a white only club. DEI was supposed to give equity to black and Latinos because we've been here 500 years, 400 years and, you know, there was segregation, lynching, red-lining, we were experimented on, you know, we were kept from jobs from, you know, going to the best places.”
He further added, “This was to undo 500 years of being oppressed. To give us equity. Give us a chance to get to the same level as everybody else. Yes. I think Americans do want inclusion. I think Americans do want diversity and grew up with Latino, black people, Asians, and they know that we have value. They're neighbors. They're in love with us. We're lovely people. We're very sexy.”
Amid some crosstalk, Behar replied, “But when white people have been dominate for such a long time—John, white people have been in control, they don’t like it now that other people—”
At the same time, Sunny Hostin concurred, “Equity feels like oppression to people who have not experienced—”
Leguizamo mostly agreed, “Some white people. I don’t think it’s all white people… some white people don’t want that diversity, and that’s why he has to demonize DEI. He has to make us feel like we’re getting a leg up and we don’t deserve it, but all the black and Latin people that I know who are in positions of power have to be five times better than their white brothers and sisters.”
Ana Navarro then moved to identiy politics and immigration, “Let's talk about our people, let’s talk about the Latinos. You were very vocal, very active during the election speaking to the Latino community. Forty-six percent voted in this country, Latinos in this country ended up voting for Trump despite the fact that he demonized Latinos, demonized immigrants every single day, and since becoming president, he's targeted, hunted them down.”
Pulling out the Nazi card, Leguizamo proclaimed, “Yes, it's like basically pogroms. They're coming up to all these people that they said 'they're criminals.' They're not criminals, and there's no due process. You can say anybody is a gang member, and you saw that Fox clip where they said this kid’s a gang member, but then they had shaved his head, and the hair was still on the floor to make them look like they're gang members, because there's no due process then you can call anyone a criminal, and you know these people—you meet immigrants, they're hard-working, lovely, decent, wonderful people.”
Navarro chimed in with, “Doing the jobs in this country that nobody else wants to do.”
With a sense of racial self-righteousness, Leguizamo continued, “We feed America. We serve America. We build America. We give America everything and they get nothing back. They're not taking from our services. They're not getting anything from us.”
Americans of all races work to feed this country and build its economy, but even if one accepts the argument that illegal immigrants are a significant part of that effort, it is not as if Mr. Hollywood Movie Star is part of that “we” doing manual labor for a living.
Here is a transcript for the March 21 show:
ABC The View
3/21/2025
11:28 PM ET
JOY BEHAR: Alright, well now I'm going to jump to politics. So, before we go to your movie, which is wonderful, you once told me about the fact that, according to you, DEI, which is what you say you are—
JOHN LEGUIZAMO: Yes. I am.
BEHAR: Stands for diligence, excellence and imagination.
LEGUIZAMO: That's right.
BEHAR: So tell me what your reaction is to Trump's executive order terminating all the DEI mandates, policies, and programs in the federal government?
LEGUIZAMO: It's terrible. I mean, they’re removing plaques of black and Latino and women heroes, just, I mean, what kind of action is that? It's like a white only club. DEI was supposed to give equity to black and Latinos because we've been here 500 years, 400 years and, you know, there was segregation, lynching, red-lining, we were experimented on, you know, we were kept from jobs from, you know, going to the best places. Churches, parks. This was to undo 500 years of being oppressed.
BEHAR: Right.
LEGUIZAMO: To give us equity. Give us a chance to get to the same level as everybody else. Yes. I think Americans do want inclusion. I think Americans do want diversity and grew up with Latino, black people, Asians, and they know that we have value. They're neighbors. They're in love with us. We're lovely people. We're very sexy.
BEHAR: But when white people have been dominate for such a long time—John, white people have been in control, they don’t like it now that other people—
LEGUIZAMO: Some—
SUNNY HOSTIN: Equity feels like oppression to people who have not experienced—
LEGUIZAMO: Right, right. Some white people. I don’t think it’s all white people—
HOSTIN: Some.
BEHAR: Of course not.
LEGUIZAMO: Yeah, but some white people don’t want that diversity, and that’s why he has to demonize DEI. He has to make us feel like we’re getting a leg up and we don’t deserve it, but all the black and Latin people that I know who are in positions of power have to be five times better than their white brothers and sisters.
ANA NAVARRO: Let's talk about our people, let’s talk about the Latinos. You were very vocal, very active during the election speaking to the Latino community.
LEGUIZAMO: Yes.
NAVARRO: Forty-six percent voted in this country, Latinos in this country ended up voting for Trump despite the fact that he demonized Latinos, demonized immigrants every single day, and since becoming president, he's targeted, hunted them down.
LEGUIZAMO: Yes, it's like basically pogroms. They're coming up to all these people that they said “they're criminals.”
HOSTIN: They're not criminals.
LEGUIZAMO: They're not criminals, and there's no due process. You can say anybody is a gang member and you saw that Fox clip where they said this kid’s a gang member, but then they had shaved his head, and the hair was still on the floor to make them look like they're gang members, because there's no due process then you can call anyone a criminal, and you know these people — you meet immigrants, they're hard-working, lovely, decent, wonderful people.
BEHAR: That's true.
NAVARRO: Doing the jobs in this country that nobody else wants to do.
LEGUIZAMO: We feed America. We serve America. We build America. We give America everything and they get nothing back. They're not taking from our services. They're not getting anything from us.
