Melania Trump Spokesperson Calls ‘The View’s “Fake Melania” Segment “Shameful”

Some people just can’t handle the harsh scrutiny of The View. On Monday, the women of the ABC talk show spent a few minutes discussing the “fake Melania online conspiracy theory,” which suggests that First Lady Melania Trump is using a body double during some of her appearances with the president. The View‘s co-hosts laughed as they discussed the controversy, but one person didn’t appreciate their jokes: Melania Trump’s Director of Communications Stephanie Grisham. Shortly after The View posted a clip of the discussion, Grisham responded via Twitter, where she called out the show for their “shameful” segment.

“Some people think that the first lady is using an imposter to stand in for her,” said Behar as she introduced the discussion. “You mean there are two women that have to pretend they’re listening to him?” The show then cut to a few of the images and memes of the Trumps that circulated over the weekend. “That one does not look like her. Sorry. I wasn’t going to go along with this, but that one in that picture doesn’t look like her,” added Behar.

Co-host Sunny Hostin said that she “spent like an hour” over the weekend looking at recent photos of Melania and Donald Trump, and she questioned whether it really is Melania pictured. “The first one that we showed, she looks kind of short. But she’s like, toe to toe with him, almost,” said Hostin, pointing to a different photo. Behar jumped in to say that the #FakeMelania rumor, which was trending on Twitter over the weekend, “catches on” because “there’s an element of truth to the idea that she doesn’t want to spend time with him.” In an attempt to support Behar’s point, guest host Ana Navarro said, “If you want evidence that it’s Melania or not, why don’t you look at how hard she’s holding his hand.”

Grisham didn’t appreciate The View‘s discussion, and she made that fact clear on Monday afternoon. “FLOTUS & POTUS traveled to Alabama to pay their respects & comfort victims of the tornado devastation,” she tweeted. “In typical fashion, The View chooses to laugh in the face of tragedy. Shameful.”

But Grisham shouldn’t drag The View quite yet: she has at least one champion on the show’s panel. Conservative voice Abby Huntsman said that she’s “not convinced” that Melania has a body double, and she looked visibly uncomfortable throughout the conversation. Later, she tried to bring the discussion to a halt, saying that she doesn’t “want to talk about” the controversy. Navarro insisted that the entire discussion was “in jest,” but Huntsman wasn’t satisfied. “But does that make it better?” she replied. “I don’t think that makes us better people.”

Watch The View discuss the Fake Melania conspiracy in the clip above.

Where to stream The View