Hell Freezes Over as Whoopi and Joy Disagree on Politics in Awkward ‘View’ Debate

It’s rare that Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar disagree on politics, but on Monday morning, it finally happened during a View discussion about the rift between Vice President Kamala Harris and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. When Behar argued that Harris should have given Manchin a heads up before doing an interview in his home state, Goldberg couldn’t hide her disdain, and she hit her co-host with a few of her patented “WTF are you talking about?” glances. You know, the ones typically reserved for Meghan McCain.

Last Thursday, VP Harris gave an exclusive interview to local West Virginia station WSAZ about the administration’s proposed COVID-19 relief bill, known as the American Rescue Plan. The interview was a fairly by-the-numbers Q&A, but it seemed to take Sen. Manchin by surprise, and he made his feelings clear the following morning. “I saw [the interview], I couldn’t believe it. No one called me [about it],” he said. “We’re going to try to find a bipartisan pathway forward, but we need to work together. That’s not a way of working together.”

By Monday morning, the topic made its way to The View, where what should have been a fairly tame topic quickly spiraled into drama. “Let me just point this out. Joe, she is the vice president. She does not work for you. She does not need your permission to go do this,” said Goldberg at the top of the segment. “When you talk like that, it sounds a little bigoted. Like you think you have the right to tell her when she can and cannot come some place.”

Sunny Hostin agreed, adding that because it’s likely Harris “was interviewed at the behest of the president of the United States,” Manchin should have no issue with it. “I was actually really almost offended that he, sort of, said that kind of thing,” she said. “I found it to be pretty disrespectful. I was surprised.”

However, things took a turn when it came time for Behar to speak. “Joe Manchin is a Democrat, but he swings to the right. And at this moment in time, the Democrats need Joe Manchin more than Joe Manchin needs the Democrats,” she said. “He’s on the Democratic team, so I don’t think it’s a great idea alienating Joe Manchin, no matter how big his ego is.”

“I’m sorry,” replied an incredulous Goldberg. “So you think that she needed to speak to him before she went and gave this interview?”

When Behar said that she’s not sure about “the protocol” in these situations (“Probably she did not,” she admitted), Goldberg interrupted to once again make her point clear. “No! ‘Cause she’s the Vice President!” she said. “I get that, but we’re talking about politics,” replied Behar. “And like I just said, the Democrats need Joe Manchin’s vote. He has a lot of power right now in the Democratic Party.”

After a few seconds of uncomfortable back and forth, Goldberg threw the discussion to McCain, who sided with Behar. Hath hell frozen over? “I completely agree with Joy,” she said, a vocal uptick making it clear how unusual this segment had become. “Yes she is the Vice President, but he’s still representing West Virginia. I was surprised that they didn’t do something in a bipartisan fashion … As Joy said, it’s just really stupid politics on behalf of Kamala’s part.”

“Well, I think it’s really disrespectful politics,” replied Goldberg. “Yeah, we’re all seeing it differently. And that’s the beauty of The View.” The View: making lemons into lemonade since 1997.

Watch Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar square off (weird, I know) above.

Where to stream The View