Joy Behar sparked backlash after she launched a sexist attack on new White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, saying she only got the position because of her looks.
'She's probably been put in there because, according to Donald Trump, she's a 10,' Behar said on Wednesday's The View panel. 'You know that's what it is.'
Behar's remark was quickly countered by fellow panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump administration staffer, who told Behar: 'It wasn't her first job, it was just her first press briefing.'
The exchange came as panelist Whoopi Goldberg also laid into Leavitt, 27, saying that her first White House press conference on Tuesday 'p***ed me off.'
Goldberg said she took issue with Leavitt saying there would be 'no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies,' and argued that Leavitt only has her role due to 'wokeness.'
'Let me explain, without that wokeness, you might not have that job,' Goldberg said.
'Because women were not invited to that table. Women were not invited to many tables in this nation.'
The barbs directed at Leavitt came after the 27-year-old used her first White House press conference to scold legacy media for 'losing the trust' of everyday Americans.
Joy Behar sparked backlash after she launched a sexist attack on new White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on The View on Wednesday, saying she only got the position because of her looks
Behar said Leavitt, the youngest ever White House Press Secretary ever at 27, only got her job because 'according to Donald Trump, she's a 10... You know that's what it is'
Goldberg said Leavitt's remarks on 'wokeness' offended her as she felt the 'wokeness was put in place for a reason.'
'The reason we fought and busted our behinds was to make sure that you didn’t have to worry about this,' Goldberg said.
'And now to hear you talk about it and to hear anybody talk about the wokeness, the wokeness was put in place for a reason, because Black people couldn’t get into colleges, because women could not get into the colleges they wanted to go to.
'This is all women. See, this is not Black, Asian women. This is all women. Women were not invited to this party. It was a man’s world, and we busted our a**es to make sure that this was a person's world.'
Goldberg said Leavitt 'doesn't even understand' what 'wokeness' means, and said the press secretary only made the remark because she thinks 'that's a terrible thing to be.'
'It’s not a terrible thing to be,' The View host continued.
'That’s why we fought, that’s what we were fighting for so that you could stand in that podium, so that Karine Jean-Pierre could stand at that podium so women of all colors and ilk, wherever they came from, whatever their belief system was, they had the opportunity to bust down that door.'
Viewers took to social media to slam The View hosts for their takes on Leavitt, with one X user insisting that despite their insults, 'She got the job because she is qualified.'
'If I could get hired to that high of a position for being smart AND beautiful I would take it!' said another. 'They are just jealous.'
On Behar's remark that Leavitt only got her job based on her looks, another said: 'If a Republican said anything remotely like that they would be pilloried.'
Whoopi Goldberg said Leavitt's first press conference 'p***ed me off', and argued that Leavitt only has her role due to 'wokeness'
On Tuesday, Leavitt announced that the new White House administration was introducing a 'new media' section of the press pool, as she slammed traditional media for 'the lies that have been pushed' about President Trump.
'We will call you out when we feel your reporting is wrong or there is misinformation about this White House,' Leavitt said.
She announced that two seats usually reserved for White House staff would become the 'new media' seats - and those individuals would get to ask the first questions.
Traditionally the wire service, the Associated Press, gets the first question - while the White House Correspondents' Association dictates which outlets get which seats in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.
'Starting today this seat in the front of the room, which is usually occupied by the press secretary's staff, will be called the "new media" seat,' she said. 'My team will review the applications and give credentials to new media applicants who meet our criteria and pass United States Secret Service requirements to enter the White House complex.'
Welcome to MAGALAND: Insider Trump's Second 100 Days - The podcast bringing you the latest news and gossip from the White House. Listen here.
The White House briefing room was packed with press for the first briefing of press secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, the youngest press secretary in history
Leavitt also announced that the Trump 2.0 administration would restore the press passes of 440 whose passes were 'wrongly revoked' by the Biden administration.
While many praised the openness of the new approach, the hosts of The View said they disagreed with the upgrades.
Sunny Hostin said she didn't believe the 'new media' reporters would be qualified to be in the briefings, with Goldberg chiming in that people would just 'spout stuff' under the new administration.
Goldberg concluded: 'Quite honestly, I like when we’re held to standards.
'I don’t always like the way they do it but we have to have ourselves together. We can’t just say stuff in spite of what they tell you. We can’t just spout stuff. So I want that for everybody.'
For the latest White House gossip and news, listen to the Daily Mail's new politics podcast, Welcome to MAGAland. Available wherever you get your podcasts now.
