Joy Behar said the hashtag #MeToo campaign, a movement that spread on Twitter following the New York Times piece about decades-long sexual harassment accusations against Harvey Weinstein, was a “reaction to Trump.”
A panel chat on “The View” made the comment Wednesday when the co-hosts were discussing Time magazine naming “The Silence Breakers” behind the #MeToo Campaign and its nomination for Person of the Year as the magazine featured women who spoke out against sexual harassment in the entertainment industry among others. The ladies noted that the hashtag started more than 11 years ago. However, it really caught fire over the last few months after actress Alyssa Milano shared it and encouraged others to share their experience of sexual harassment. (RELATED: Joy Behar Insists Hillary Clinton Won The Election–Meghan McCain Hits Her With The Truth [VIDEO])
“I have a question though because the [women’s] movement sort of started with Trump being elect and the women’s march,” Meghan McCain explained. “I wasn’t present at the women’s march. But my father saw near where he works. And he said it was seas and seas and seas of women. And he was like ‘this cannot be ignored. There’s more women than you can possibly see at this time no matter how you feel about it.'”
“I didn’t participate in the women’s march,” she added. “And then it ends with this Time magazine being women of the year. Do you think this would have happened had Trump not been president? If Hillary Clinton had won.”
“I actually do. Because I think the whole issue with the women coming out had more to do with they couldn’t hold on to it anymore,” Whoopi Goldberg responded. “This movement forward would have happened because you know this silence has gone on for years and years and years. And part of the reason that it is no longer silent is because it is not — it’s not easy to do this to women or men anymore.
“It’s not easy to just do it anymore and get away. People will tell on you like that. ‘They’re like right there. There he is. There she is. There they are.’ I think it would have happened no matter what,” Goldberg continued.
“If Hillary [Clinton] would have won women would have felt empowered that we have a woman in the White House and we were even stronger,” Joy Behar jumped in. This is a more of a reaction to Trump. It’s a different motivation. But either way as she says, it would have happened.”