Television October 18, 2010
'View' Hosts Reflect on O'Reilly Dust-Up
"The View" co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar took a calmer moment this morning to discuss the blowup with FOX News host Bill O'Reilly last Thursday.
"He started with me as soon as he sat down," Goldberg explained, referring to O'Reilly's comments on the Muslim mosque being built near Ground Zero, which culminated in the newsman declaring "Muslims killed us on 9/11."
Goldberg continued, "You can't throw stuff around like that, in my opinion. He came on and he was condescending. I had reached my threshold. I know that if I had stayed here, for me at least, it would have gotten worse. He was so disrespectful just to the five of us, that I thought, 'I'm done.'"
Barbara Walters believed O'Reilly just said those things to stir the pot. "He loves this, this is just what he wants. I think [walking out] was the wrong thing to do. You can express yourself, I hope, without adding to the rage and the fury. We need to have conversations without screaming, without profanities, without people walking off. People love train wrecks... but he was someone we invited."
Even former "View" co-host Rosie O'Donnell got into the mix, commenting on her radio show, "Bill O'Reilly, what does he do besides incite that kind of hatred? That's what Bill O'Reilly does. Why would you book him? The fact that Barbara Walters felt that she should scold Whoppi Goldberg and Joy Behar on TV is kind of strange."