Behar reminded the audience of Gibson’s now notorious anti-Semitic comments upon his DUI arrest. "The View" co-host exclaimed she would never send her daughter to an "anti-Semite." Elisabeth Hasselbeck reminded Behar that Spears is an adult whose mother no longer has that authority.
Ms. Behar should recognize her own glass house before casting stones. Previously, the panelist went on an anti-Catholic tirade theorizing that the saints of the past were no more than mentally ill. Although Joy later attempted to clarify those remarks, she never formally apologized. Behar has also made sexist remarks in the past, labeling men "idiots" who "think with Mr. Happy."
The daytime star also seemingly holds different standards for those who made past derogatory remarks. Behar spun Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s anti-Italian slurs as a "compliment" and even recommended that Barack Obama pick Senator Jim Webb as a running mate, despite his past sexist language.
The rest of the panel, especially Whoopi Goldberg, was much more forgiving and sympathetic towards Mel Gibson. Whoopi added that Gibson made a dumb mistake as she and everyone else has done.
The relevant transcript is below.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Mel Gibson and Britney Spears have been spending time together lately. First Britney and her dad vacationed with Mel and his wife in Costa Rica, and the other night they met in a cigar bar in Beverly Hills. I didn’t know you can still smoke in bars in Beverly Hills or I’d go right back to LA.
JOY BEHAR: In a cigar bar they have those-yes.
SHERRI SHEPHERD: In a cigar bar they make those-
GOLDBERG: I didn’t know you can do that. But in any case, what do you think of this?
BEHAR: Well, what is he meeting her for?
GOLDBERG: I think he’s really taking her under his wing to just sort of help her get on a better cycle.
BEHAR: So, you mean, so this guy [displaying picture of Gibson with a bottle] is going to help Britney Spears.
[laughter]
SHEPHERD: Well, that’s in a, that’s in a different moment.
BEHAR: The new movie "Apocadimfo."
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: I think it’s about-
BEHAR: "Apocadimfo," you know what that movie’s about "Apocalypto."
[laughter]
HASSELBECK: I think he has, I think he has good intention.
BEHAR: "The Pop Tart," another movie.
HASSELBECK: I think if his intentions are good, maybe it’s someone he can trust. I don’t know.
BEHAR: Oh come on. Why would she, why would she- it’s like the blind leading the deaf, okay?
HASSELBECK: You think so?
SHEPHERD: But Joy, this is a man, he’s got, if I’m not mistaken, he has eight children and a wife.
BEHAR: Yeah.
SHEPHERD: He’s got pretty stable home life.
BEHAR: And...
SHEPHERD: Well, yeah it’s kind of a stable home life.
BEHAR: Does nobody remember his mug shot? He was picked up for drunk driving. He spewed anti-Semitic remarks at the, at the police man. This is the person that her mother puts her trust in to send her daughter?
HASSELBECK: Well, she’s an adult. Her mother is not taking- her mother is- she’s an adult now. Her mother is not as responsible as responsible for her as she was when she was 17 or 16 or 15.
BEHAR: How can you defend Mel Gibson?
HASSELBECK: I’m not de- I’m just saying we don’t know, you never know someone’s relationship with another person. The only two people who are clear on it are the two people who are in it. So we don’t really know what their relationship is.
GOLDBERG: I’ll defend Mel Gibson.
BEHAR: In this instance?
GOLDBERG: In this instance I can.
BEHAR: Go ahead, let’s hear it. I want to hear it.
GOLDBERG: Mel made a mistake.
BEHAR: Yeah?
GOLDBERG: Yeah.
BEHAR: Uh huh.
GOLDBERG: Simple as that. He made a mistake. He learned from his mistake. Maybe he can help her. It’s simple. [applause] Listen, I, I want- you know we’ve talked about this. And it takes somebody who has gone down and done it publicly and had their behinds shown this way to say to somebody "listen. I might be a thousand years older than you, but it doesn’t matter. When you’re busted you’re busted. They treat you the same way if you’re a celebrity. Let me help you. Maybe you can help me figure some stuff out."
BEHAR: Well, I think that maybe a mistake plus a lot of time going by and a lot of therapy yourself, which I don’t really believe that he’s had. I mean, it only happened a couple of years ago, not even. I don’t even remember when, not a long time ago. So just because you make a mistake doesn’t mean that you’re now capable of helping somebody else so easily.
GOLDBERG: It doesn’t mean that you’re not.
BEHAR: There’s a training.
GOLDBERG: It doesn’t mean that you’re not.
BEHAR: But all people, him? I would never send my daughter to an anti-Semite, which is what he is.
HASSELBECK: Nobody’s sending her. She’s an adult. Nobody’s sending her anywhere.
SHEPHERD: For Alcoholics Anonymous the people who help people come in there are people who have been through that same thing. And they go "I want to help you because this is what I’ve been through."
GOLDBERG: And also, I mean, you know, have you never cursed people out? Not in a drunken state, because you don’t drink and drive. But have you never made offensive remarks to people when you’re in an altered state? I have. I have cursed out, and God help me, I have cursed older people who are driving.
HASSELBECK: You are tight with God. "Sister Act," he’s like right-
GOLDBERG: I’ve done dumb stuff. People do dumb stuff.
BEHAR: They do, but-
GOLDBERG: And when you- I, I have to be forgiving because I’ve had a lot of chances. And so I know if someone has done something that is really sort of offensive, and they say "you know what, I realized I made a very dumb mistake," you got to sort of go with him and hope for the best.
HASSELBECK: I think there’s something to be said.
BEHAR: Well, there’s also a saying "in vino veritas," and we he was drunk, he spoke his true feelings, which are not pretty.
GOLDBERG: Maybe.
BEHAR: Not pretty.
GOLDBERG: Well, but none of our true feelings are really pretty because then none of us will be speaking to each other.
BEHAR: When you were in a drunken state, when you were drunk or whatever you were, did you say something racist or anti-Semitic?
GOLDBERG: Yeah, probably.
BEHAR: Oh, well.
HASSELBECK: Don’t you think too- there were people that rushed to be by Britney during the time- in the height of her career just to try to mooch off of her fame-
SHEPHERD: Who were not good.
HASSELBECK: -and wanted to just be a part of what she’s part. And I have more respect for him going at this point, going to her and saying "hey, maybe we can go through this, let me show you where I’ve been," than those who wanted to be at her side when she was at the height of her career. I do. I just think that they’re, not- aside from what he has said in the past, just his pure intention of maybe just get her to a better place. I think that, that’s what we have to look at.
SHEPHERD: Sometimes it seems like with, with celebrities you can’t just go to the lady that works at the bank and say "this is what I’m going through."
BEHAR: No, you go to a regular therapist, a psychotherapist.
[...]
GOLDBERG: Let’s be realistic. We have all stepped in dog doo, each and every one- let me just say it. We’ve all stepped in dog doo and we’ve all regretted some of the things we’ve said, whether it’s anti-Semitic, or whether it’s anti-black, anti-white, anti-old person, anti-young person. We all have done it. [applause] And so my point is, she is, someone has said to her, "listen, I might have some information that will be helpful to you." And if he can help her, great! I say, give, give it a shot. If he can make it better for her, and maybe in the long run, make it better for himself in terms of moving forward, yes. Do we all want to take back all of those stupid things that we say, whether we drink or whether we- it slips out of our mouth? Sure we do. But you know what? Some of us don’t get to. Some of us don’t get to. People can- a lot of folks here will say all kinds of crazy stuff and no one will ever know unless of course there is a telephone there.
[...]
BEHAR: You know, from the last conversation, I don’t want anybody to think that any of us, or any of these girls are anti-Semites. They’re not, you know. I was very adamant about, I’m very adamant about it.
HASSELBECK: No, I think we all are. I don’t think anyone at the table wants anything racist said or anti-Semitic- no anti-Semitic comments at all. But I think what we’re just trying to say is that, you know, we’re just trying to understand the present situation with Mel Gibson and Britney, you know.
BEHAR: Yeah, well we believe certain things too. I believe he is anti-Semitic. That’s my position. And I, and I’m sticking with it.
