Comedian Joy Behar told ABC viewers on Tuesday that her profession is too culturally “important” to be criticized.
A discussion on disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein between the ladies of “The View” quickly turned to the role comedians play in American culture. The group were debating Weinstein jokes by “The Late Late Show” host James Corden when Ms. Behar said her industry peers should be immune from scrutiny.
The co-host specifically took issue with actress Rose McGowan, who called Mr. Corden a “motherf—-ing piglet” in response to his Oct. 14 performance at the AmfAR Gala in Los Angeles.
“Rose McGowan particularly singled out Corden,” Ms. Behar said, The Daily Caller reported. “I really don’t think that it’s appropriate to attack comedians. We’re on the right side of things. Also, the comedians are there to say the emperor has no clothes. We’re important people right now. So, I don’t know why attack comedians. And yet what [co-host Sunny Hostin] just said is interesting. She only went after Corden. [Jimmy] Kimmel made a joke. [John] Oliver made a joke, ’SNL,’ we all do that.”
Ms. McGowan, who reached an out-of-court settlement with Mr. Weinstein in the late 90s, telegraphed her motivations on Twitter Oct. 15.
“Hearing the audience’s vile roars & laughs show EXACTLY what kind of HOLLYWOOD you really are,” she wrote. “@CBS DONATE TO @ELAWC OR YOU TOO SUPPORT RAPE CULTURE. James Corden is a close friend of HW’s.”
Mr. Weinstein was fired Oct. 8 as chief executive of Weinstein Co. after The New York Times published an exposé on decades of sexual harassment claims leveled against him.
Sources close to the company told reporters Tuesday that he also resigned from the company’s board.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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