Joy Behar has defended Republican outrage over Tom Hanks ' portrayal of Donald Trump supporters during the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special.
The View host said the sketch made 'anyone who voted for Trump look like a racist' and argued that she 'would never do that, because I don't believe that any group is one thing'.
'It's not only racism that caused Trump to be in office. We have to remember that,' she said on Tuesday's episode of the popular talk show. 'So of course they're going to be insulted.'
The controversial skit saw Hanks reprise his role as Doug, a character from a 2016 sketch who wears a MAGA hat and performs surprisingly well on a mock game show called Black Jeopardy.
In the new version of the sketch, Doug vehemently refused to shake hands with host Darnell Hayes played by Kenan Thompson.
Former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aide Link Lauren called the character 'disgusting' and accused SNL of pushing a tired, divisive narrative. Similarly, SNL alum Victoria Jackson slammed it as 'stupid'.
Behar seemingly agrees that Trump supporters should be upset by Hanks' portrayal of MAGA fans in the SNL skit.
'The fact remains that they're making anyone who voted for Trump look like a racist, and that's why they're mad,' she argued.
She said that it is not acceptable to brand an entire group of people as 'one thing' and suggested she felt his supporters were justified in feeling 'insulted'.
Behar said that racism was not the only reason Trump won the 2024 election.
'A lot of these people [who voted for Trump], in my opinion, have been misled,' she told her co-hosts.
'They thought that grocery prices would come down. They're up. They thought inflation was coming down. It's up. They thought that Medicaid was safe. It's not. They thought Social Security was safe. It's not.'
She further went on the compare Republicans' frustrations to how The View hosts felt when political commentator Bill O'Reilly declared 'Muslims killed us on 9/11' during his 2010 appearance on the talk show.
The remark prompted both Behar and co-host Whoopi Goldberg to storm off set.
'It's the same thing,' Behar stated, 'and if they can do it to them, they can do it to us. So that's the whole point.'
Sonny Hostin, however, hit back, saying she thought the sketch was 'subversive' and that Doug's refusal to shake Hayes' hand was a reference to how Republican Sen. Deb Fischer's husband was accused of refusing to shake Kamala Harris' hand.
'I think it's a very subversive sketch,' Hostin said. 'In fact, it's about Black culture being American culture. And so, when you have the regular Jeopardy, you know, it's basically the White Jeopardy that already exists — because I've been on it and lost'.
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'The fact that he refused to shake the host's hand, that has happened before. Do you remember when the senator's husband that was being [sworn in] refused… He refused to shake [Harris's] hand; so I felt that it was very subversive.'
She added: 'I felt that it was a sort of a callback to that.'
'Those are political points that don't insult individual people,' she concluded.
Hanks first appeared as Doug on Black Jeopardy! in 2016 in an effort to depict both the differences and similarities between Trump voters and black culture.
The character was brought back for the 50th anniversary of the NBC staple, which included comedy sketches from A-listers and SNL alums including Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Bill Murray, David Spade and Jon Lovitz.
But, as MAGA fans pointed out, Trump has since won over a diverse electorate and secured the popular vote - turning Doug into an outdated stereotype.
After the program aired last weekend, Republicans were quick to blast the skit and SNL as a whole.
'This show wonders why their ratings are in the gutter,' Link Lauren wrote. 'Trump won the popular vote. This tired trope that MAGA is racist is disgusting. SNL is an unfunny show for snobbish liberal elites.'
Right-wing influencer Dominick McGee took direct aim at Hanks, accusing him of 'just disrespecting every Republican on SNL as he was dressed up as a Trump supporter with a MAGA hat.'
Another critic pointed out what they saw as an awkward silence during the sketch, writing, 'No one in the audience laughs as Tom Hanks appears on SNL as a racist Trump supporter that refuses to shake hands with a Black man.'
SNL alum Victoria Jackson, who is also a Trump supporter, expressed her displeasure over the bit and show in general during an interview with TMZ.
Jackson observed a former cast member beside her laughing at the 'crude jokes', and sarcastically told the publication that the anniversary special looked to have something for everyone.
However, she noted, 'Did anyone make fun of the Kamala supporters?!'
Jackson was an SNL cast member from 1986 to 1992.
