Speaking on ABC’s “The View,” on Monday, CNN’s Ana Navarro attempted to defend legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who made his comeback on the network last week when he was interviewed by CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. Toobin had taken a leave of absence from CNN in the fall of 2020 after he was caught masturbating on a Zoom call taking place with his colleagues from The New Yorker.
Toobin had told Camerota, “Well, obviously, I wasn’t thinking very well or very much. And it was something that was inexplicable to me. I think, one point, I wouldn’t exactly say in my defense, because nothing is really in my defense; I didn’t think I was on the call. I didn’t think other people could see me.”
Navarro offered a unique explanation and euphemism, declaring that Toobin had not been “sexually harassing somebody… he was sexually harassing himself.”
Asked by host Whoopi Goldberg if she was surprised to see Toobin back on the air at CNN, Navarro replied, “You know, I’m not surprised he’s back on the air but I will tell you when I saw that interview, oh, God, how embarrassing, how humiliating. I kept thinking to myself: If I have to go on live TV and explain to the nation why I masturbated on a Zoom call I think I’d rather sell avocados under I-95 than get my job back on TV.”
Then she began her defense: “Look, I think some instances of sexual harassment are black and white. Some instances are more nuanced. In this case, He was not sexually harassing somebody — he didn’t have the intent to harass somebody. He was sexually harassing himself, maybe.”
Contending that Toobin belonged back on CNN, Navarro continued, “He was on a Zoom call; it was an accidental exposure. It was not a CNN Zoom call. It was with The New Yorker, from where he has been terminated and faced consequences. He was off CNN for many months during some of the elections, during some of the hottest political and legal times. I have to say, some of my CNN colleagues, the legal analysts who filled in the void … have done an amazing job.”
Navarro theorized that if viewers were uncomfortable watching Toobin (certainly that might be a risky possibility), they could simply eschew watching CNN while he was on, and added that CNN colleagues should be aware that his actions had not targeted them. She stated, “I also think CNN is a for-profit business. If viewers don’t like it, then they should make their views known. If they want to have some grace, if they want to say ‘We’re not going to cancel a guy because he made a stupid mistake,’ I think his bigger problem is frankly with himself, with his family, with his wife than it is with his CNN colleagues because it was not that was done to us. It was something stupid, horrific, kinky, freaky that he did. But it wasn’t something that he was trying to do to us, his CNN colleagues.”