As Heidi Klum likes to say: One day you’re in; the next, you’re out.
So it goes with Stormy Daniels‘ creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti, who was arrested Monday for allegedly trying to extort Nike. He also faces charges of fraud and embezzlement.
Like learning your husband is a serial killer, the ladies of ABC’s “The View” seemed to have amnesia Tuesday about how much they fawned over Avenatti when he appeared on the program — here’s looking at you, Joy Behar. He has appeared on “The View” numerous times to discuss President Trump‘s former attorney Michael Cohen, as well as his brief flirtation with a presidential bid in 2020. (FLASHBACK: Avenatti Once Contemplated A 2020 White House Bid)
The ladies ate him up like candy. Now, he’s in their rearview mirror.
And Whoopi Goldberg wants to rewrite history.
“The reason he was on the show is because he brought Stormy,” Whoopi said Tuesday. “Let’s not forget that. . . . I just want everybody to remember the roots of that.”
Riiiight. Let’s not forget that. They were using Avenatti. It wasn’t as if they actually liked him.
But let’s also not forget how seemingly good of a get Avenatti was for them.
“My first reaction is, rather, sadness, to tell you the truth,” Behar said Tuesday. “Here was a guy who brought Stormy Daniels to us, which informed us that Trump had paid hush money to keep her quiet … and so it was good, I liked it. It was like, oh good, we have somebody here who is going to tell some the truth about someone about this criminal who is running the country. . . . I know Trump will use this against him to glorify himself. . . . So I don’t like it.”
The report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller has declared that Trump did not collude with Russia during the election.
So maybe Behar hasn’t gotten the memo?
Something else to remember: When Aveantti appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in September 2018, the host berated Avenatti for taking advantage of Daniels. Though Tucker Carlson didn’t call him by his usual nickname — “creepy porn lawyer” — until the end of the interview, the Fox News chyron did. Things got heated. The two men argued. Carlson said Avenatti was “exploiting” Daniels. “I know that you haven’t paid your taxes,” Carlson said. (RELATED: Avenatti Contemplated Suing Carlson For Defending His Own Daughter)
Avenatti eventually asked, “When’s the last time you saw porn?” Carlson replied that he watches the “humiliation porn” of Avenatti on CNN. Carlson concluded the segment, saying, “Creepy porn lawyer, great to see you!”
The following day, “The View” aired a clip and discussed it as a hot topic. They ferociously defended Avenatti and said he came out “on top.”
Co-host Abby Huntsman was all outraged, offended by what she said was “two men talking about who watches more porn.” She saw “two men trying to out-macho the other,” and lamented that so much about TV is about entertainment.
(Yeah, it’s so disgusting for TV people to try to entertain their audiences.)
Co-host Sunny Hostin declared Avenatti the clear victor. She said “The View” has legal standards that are “beyond that” and they would never be able to call him “creepy porn lawyer.” She received audience applause when she asked,”Why doesn’t he call the president ‘the creepy porn president?'”
Behar added in her two cents: “I find it really really rich that they’re calling sleaze on Fox when, who ran Fox? Roger Ailes? Out.”
Whoopi informed her that Ailes is dead.
Behar appeared befuddled, but unmoved. “That whole place was a sleaze factory and they’re calling Avenatti out?” she continued. She said Avenatti told her he was trying to get Daniels to stop stripping, citing security concerns. She claimed Avenatti is not exploiting Daniels. “She’s got a book out,” she said. ” … She’s making money.”
On Tuesday, the women of “The View” sang a different tune about Avenatti, who last August appeared on the show with Daniels in her first live TV interview. Daniels has since fired him.
Huntsman is somehow now the voice of reason.
“The moment I first saw him on television, in my opinion, he came across to me as a sleazy con artist,” Huntsman said. “I felt bad for Stormy Daniels. I thought she had an incredibly important story to tell .. And I thought … he will take advantage of you, the media and the American people. . . . It’s a lesson to all of us of like, go with your instinct on things. . . . We saw so much of this guy everywhere and why?”
Behar dug in her heels and replied, “I’ll tell you why. He was able to take on Trump on the same hostility that Trump puts out.”
Huntsman shot back, “Is that a good enough reason?”
Co-host Meghan McCain naturally went 10 steps further than Huntsman, saying there’s a GIF of her dry heaving from Avenatti’s presence on the show.
“I remember being in an airport and he was on MSNBC and CNN at the same time,” McCain recalled. “Which is almost unprecedented that someone would have that much attention. He came on the show … I thought he was a con-artist. I thought he was sleazy. There’s actually a GIF of me, like, dry heaving at something he said. . . . I didn’t understand why he was making so much money and she was forced to continue stripping at low-end strip clubs. . . . A lot of men take advantage of [strippers], and I believe he did that.”
McCain asked if Avenatti is welcome back on the program.
Whoopi used her”get out of jail free” card. She said Avenatti may be going to the slammer.
The segment concluded with Hostin reading a statement from Avenatti, insisting that when all is said and done, he’ll be exonerated.
But the question remains to be answered whether the ladies will ever have him back.
