The female hosts of “The View,” who were delighted to mock Tucker Carlson after he and Fox News parted ways on Monday, had quite a different reaction to CNN firing Don Lemon, whose comments about women had engendered an incendiary reaction.
Lemon’s various denigrations of women had included suggesting to Bill Cosby sexual assault accuser Joan Tarshis that she should have bitten Cosby’s penis; intimating politician Nikki Haley was past her prime because she was 51 years old as he stated “a woman is in their prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” and asking panelist S.E. Cupp whether she was suffering from “mommy brain.”
“CNN also announced they’re parting ways with one of their biggest on-air male personalities: Don Lemon,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg began. “Now, there’s speculation that the longstanding rumors of him creating a toxic work environment, especially for some of the female co-workers along with some controversial on-air statements led to CNN cutting ties with him. Now, he says he was stunned by the news. Are you?”
“I am,” co-host Sunny Hostin replied. “And I know that I’m biased here, because Don is my friend. And he has been my friend for 20 years. Our offices were directly across from each other for most of that time that I worked there. And I will say that I don’t believe in my experience with him that he’s a misogynist. I think he loves women. He loves his mother. He loved his sister. He loves me. He loves Joy.”
“What about me?” co-host Sara Haines chimed in.
“Maybe he loves you too,” Hostin comforted her.
“I think he loves me too,” Haines concluded.
“I am stunned,” Hostin pronounced. “And I hate that people are comparing Tucker’s firing with Don’s firing. That’s a false equivalency,” as Behar and Haines echoed that the firings were “different.”
Haines blamed new management at CNN for Lemon’s firing, stating, “We’ve watched as new management comes in and you say goodbye to a lot of people. When new bosses come in, a lot of people go out, deservedly so or not. I feel like, in some ways, the writing was on the wall when the new management came.”
On Monday, following the news of Carlson’s exit, co-host Ana Navarro asked, “Can I ask the audience if they’ll help me do something?” Then she turned to the audience, “C’mon folks: Na-na-na-na, na-na na-na. Hey, hey, hey, goodbye.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin chimed in, “I don’t think anyone likes to celebrate the demise of someone’s career, but he is responsible for the degradation, somewhat, that we see, of our democracy in this country.” Then she invoked God as part of Carlson leaving the network, intoning, “And I just think as a faithful person, look at God. Look at God.”
Related: ‘Hey, Hey, Hey, Goodbye’: ‘The View’ Women Laugh, Mock Tucker After His Exit