"She Should Step Down": Joy Behar Slammed For Wearing Blackface At A Halloween Party In The '70s

February 7, 2019 18:00

Author By Fabiosa

Wearing blackface is offensive and unacceptable, no matter how you put it. It looks like The View host Joy Behar hadn’t got the memo by 2016.

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A post shared by Joy Behar (@joyvbehar) on Aug 23, 2016 at 6:03pm PDT

Is a new scandal brewing?

In one 2016 episode, the show’s panel was discussing the increase in popularity of curly hair. That’s when Joy proudly stated that her hair is naturally curly, providing a picture of her dressed as a ‘beautiful African woman’ for a Halloween party in the early ’70s.

Joy's face in the picture is darker than her natural skin tone, and she admitted she'd used makeup to make it looks darker. Her co-hosts didn’t say a word about such a costume being inappropriate.

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A post shared by Joy Behar (@joyvbehar) on Nov 11, 2016 at 9:24am PST

We would have forgotten about that moment on the show if it hadn’t been for Jon Levine. The Wrap editor helpfully decided to remind us about Joy’s costume, in light of the recent revelation about Ralph Northam, the Governor of Virginia:

Joy Behar admitted during a taping of The View in 2016 to dressing as a “beautiful African women” at a Halloween party when she was 29 which involved makeup “that was a little bit darker than my skin”

The show even ran an image of the old photo pic.twitter.com/qKQqzDPxyn
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) February 6, 2019

How people reacted

Naturally, there have been some strong and emotional responses to the tweet, with many calling Joy a hypocrite. Some have even called on her to quit the show. Here are some of the comments about the video:

“A Little bit darker Joy”? NO JOY BEHAR, ITS CALLED BLACK FACE!!! But to justify it let’s use the word BEAUTIFUL. And who dresses like a “Beautiful African woman” on Halloween? Is that because they are SCARY? Huh?@ABC https://t.co/Cperuhnqed
— Deplorable Smelly Dregs of Society Morris (@AmCanPastor) February 7, 2019

@JoyVBehar so you have admitted to wearing black face...hmmm your a racist.quit your job and never work again dor your horrible crimes 30 years ago..
— Shawn Ferguson (@0neRadDad) February 7, 2019

Yet Megyn Kelly was FIRED for simply asking why it was offensive if you ADMIRE the person you’re dressing up as?? Where’s your condemnation on this @alroker ? “Whew, Joy is on a dif network, so I don’t have to comment”
— Kim Greer (@KimberlyKateGre) February 7, 2019

She’s a monster! Resign now!
— Anthony Proietta Jr. (@JrProietta) February 7, 2019

I think she should step down from the show.that's so inappropriate.
— Sarcastic Mack (@MACK_mcclure) February 7, 2019

Double standards?

As you remember, another popular host actually lost her job over blackface comments. Megyn Kelly was fired by NBC after expressing doubts why wearing blackface is offensive, saying it was

OK when I was a kid as long as you were dressing like a character.

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A post shared by @megyntoday on Oct 19, 2018 at 1:02pm PDT

The host later apologized for her comments but was dismissed anyway.

Will Joy face the same fate at ABC? We tend to doubt it.