“The View” co-hosts linked the Tuesday night attack against stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle to former President Donald Trump during a Wednesday episode.
A man charged Chappelle holding a fake gun capable of producing a knife blade and tackled him on stage in the midst of his comedy show at the Hollywood Bowl. The attacker suffered “superficial injuries” from the incident, while Chappelle was not injured.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg said violent attacks have been occurring everywhere, including airplanes, street corners and now the Hollywood Bowl.
“There’s the things that contribute to what’s going on,” co-host Joy Behar responded. “The pandemic, the opioid crisis, the fact that Trump was out there saying things like, ‘Just knock the hell out of them, I promise you I’ll pay for the legal fees’ when he had a heckler. I mean, there are many factors involved here.”
Trump made the remarks at a 2016 rally in Iowa where he heard reports of protesters in the audience planning to throw tomatoes at the then-presidential candidate. An attendee, John McGraw, threw a punch and was arrested for assault and battery.
Guest co-host Lindsey Granger pushed back arguing the attack had no connection to politics. (RELATED: ‘We Are Not Victims’: ‘The View’ Guest Points Fingers Confronting Co-Hosts On CRT, Victimizing Black People)
“This is not a political thing, come on. I know you want to wrap it all under politics, but this is really about security,” Granger said.
“Well, it didn’t happen before,” Behar said.
“Will Smith wasn’t particularly right-leaning and running up on the stage smacking Chris Rock,” Granger interjected.
Co-host Sunny Hostin said Trump “unleashed some incivility” in the country. Behar then challenged Granger by pointing to the “amount of impulse control lacking in the population.” Granger attributed the increase in erratic behavior to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“Trump really, he made the pandemic into, like, a cold,” Behar continued. “Remember? He handled it so poorly.”
Co-host Sara Haines said the country is “waiting to be offended” by everything, particularly in comedy. She said comedy has to “cross the line” and it is the responsibility of people to let it go rather than react.
“[It] came from the left though, so if that’s the argument that Joy’s trying to have,” Granger began.
“I’m talking about a lack of impulse control in the society right now,” Behar said. Granger pushed back arguing it is caused by a lack of security.
“People are rude, people are just rude and we don’t know about this kid, so we don’t know,” Goldberg chimed in. “We don’t know why he did what he did, so let’s move on from the conversation.”
“Who stormed the Capitol, do you remember that?” Behar interjected, in reference to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.