The View gave longtime journalist Katie Couric a pass on Thursday's show, for admitting she edited an interview she did with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2016 to protect her from liberal backlash.
Couric made this admission in her forthcoming salacious tell-all. The former ABC and NBC News host bragged she censored a full quote from Ginsburg during a 2016 interview, that would’ve made her look bad to her woke fans. The late liberal justice was bashing NFL players like Colin Kaepernick for their national anthem kneeling protests at NFL games calling it “dumb and disrespectful.” But Couric left out the harshest criticism where Ginsburg slammed the athletes as “‘showing contempt for a government that made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life which they probably could not have lived in the places they came from.”
On Thursday's show, The View’s Joy Behar noted that Couric “didn’t want RBG to look bad to her liberal fans.” “We loved her, we didn’t want her to leave the court, she’s regarded as such a liberal superhero!” Behar said, seeming to accept Couric’s rationale.
Co-host Sherri Shepherd was even more adamant in defending Couric, saying, “I can understand why Katie Couric would have withheld some stuff to protect her because I think that she felt -- even her publicist called the publicist called and said she misspoke, can you take that out?”
Shepherd seemed to think it was the journalist’s role to protect liberal icons from criticism: “They wanted Katie to take it out. She was struggling with it. I think Katie knew at the time she interviewed her it would have compromised her and I think she made a decision that a lot of people make, a lot of journalists make to take stuff out.”
When it came to Sunny Hostin's turn to speak, she didn’t focus on Couric but instead responded to Ginsburg’s comments. Hostin, who recently interviewed Colin Kaepernick, lamented how “very disappointed” she was in the late justice. She even slammed Ginsburg as “never really [being] understanding of the intersectionality of women and blackness.”
But Ana Navarro chimed in with her usual nastiness. “[F]rankly I'd prefer RBG wrapped in mummified rags than Kavanaugh or anything we have there!” she said as the audience clapped.
Navarro went on to criticize Couric from the left for even including this in her memoir.
Katie is coming here in a few days and I think you guys need to ask her, one of the questions I'd have is if you protected her in life, if you took this out of the interview in life, why now that she's dead and she's an icon to so many are you including this now that she can't respond to it in any way, the same way that General Milley did with the "Peril" book?
But like Shepherd, Sara Haines was fine with Couric censoring Ginsburg at the time the interview came out:
I know they want to protect justices from speaking on political issues because I think it does compromise kind of the sanctity of that court and that role so I could understand and you alluded to this, stepping in and saying, you know, we don't want that included because I don't think she misspoke. I don't know exactly the entirety of the interview but I think she meant what she said.
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Read relevant transcript portions below:
The View
10/14/21
JOY BEHAR: Katie Couric who is coming on the show in a couple of weeks is raising eyebrows for admitting that when she interviewed late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2016 she apparently edited out her comments on pro athlete was take a knee during the anthem saying that, quote, this is what she took out. She had contempt for a government -- “they have contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life which they probably could not have lived in the places they came from.” Couric said she removed it to protect her and we'll ask her about that when she comes here, of course….But basically she’s saying that--[RBG]-- who’s regarded as a great liberal...the great RBJ[sic], we loved her, we didn’t want her to leave the court, she’s regarded as such a liberal superhero. So is this going to -- she actually took it out of her interview, Katie. Because she didn't want RBG to look bad to her liberal fans.
SHERRI SHEPHERD: I think a person can't work with what you don't give them and we've always respected her for her thoughts. She's been very clear. I say what I mean, I mean what I say and I can understand why Katie Couric would have withheld some stuff to protect her because I think that she felt -- even her publicist called the publicist called and said she misspoke, can you take that out? So I think --
BEHAR: Whose publicist?
SHEPHERD: The supreme court publicist?--
SUNNY HOSTIN: They have a public officer--
SHEPHERD:and they called and said she misspoke and I think that she knew --
BEHAR: She didn't misspoke -- misspeak.
SHEPHERD: They wanted Katie to take it out. She was struggling with it. I think Katie knew at the time she interviewed her it would have compromised her and I think she made a decision that a lot of people make, a lot of journalists make to take stuff out.
BEHAR: She said ‘I think it's dumb and disrespectful. I would have the same answer if you asked me about flag burning. It is a terrible thing to do but I wouldn't lock a person up for doing it and point out how ridiculous it is to do such an act.’ So you know, she supports the First Amendment as a Supreme Court Justice but she has personal feelings about flag burning and taking the knee. That it's not a good idea.
…
NAVARRO: We haven't read the full thing. Katie is coming here in a few days and I think you guys need to ask her, one of the questions I'd have is if you protected her in life, if you took this out of the interview in life, why now that she's dead and she's an icon to so many are you including this now that she can't respond to it in any way, the same way that General Milley did with the "Peril" book?
SHEPHERD: Well it's her story! It's her story to tell.
SARA HAINES: I understand exactly what you were saying. I think -- Sunny could speak to this. I know they want to protect justices from speaking on political issues because I think it does compromise kind of the sanctity of that court and that role so I could understand and you alluded to this, stepping in and saying, you know, we don't want that included because I don't think she misspoke. I don't know exactly the entirety of the interview but I think she meant what she said.
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