Joy Behar has defended Republican outrage over Tom Hanks ' portrayal of Donald Trump supporters during the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special.
via: EW
The View cohost, stand-up comedian, and staunch Donald Trump critic Joy Behar has revealed that she understands why conservatives are upset about the return of Tom Hanks' MAGA hat-wearing Black Jeopardy character on Saturday Night Live's recent 50th anniversary special, which included a bit where Hanks was apprehensive about shaking the hand of the contest host (played by Kenan Thompson).
Appearing on the talk show's companion podcast Behind the Table, the 82-year-old said Tuesday that she's sympathetic to right-wing Americans who were offended by Sunday evening's revival of Hanks' MAGA character, Doug, who first appeared opposite Thompson on SNL's Black Jeopardy sketch in October 2016 (during which he also refused to shake Thompson's hand), in a new version starring Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, and Eddie Murphy.
"You understood why people were offended because you don't like the idea of people painting with one brush a big group of people," View producer Brian Teta said to Behar on the podcast, after Behar said on the air that, throughout her life, she never liked broad-stroke generalizations about Italian people (Behar's ancestors are from Italy) being in the mob.
"I don't think it's fair. I think that a lot of these so-called MAGA people were misled by Trump because he told them he would do certain things and he's not doing them, and then he didn't tell them he was going to do other certain things, and everybody knows what they are at this point, and he's doing them," Behar said. "Like renaming places, trying to usurp property around the world that doesn't belong to him."
She then attempted to "speak for a MAGA person" and speculated that his core base "did not vote for" such things: "I wanted my eggs to come down in price, I wanted gasoline to come down, even though I know the president has nothing to do with that. I wanted mortgage rates to come down — the things that affect my family. I don't care if you want to own Panama. Why are you bringing that into this? It's a big distraction."
Behar also pointed to SNL's long history of taking politicians to task as the show's grounding presence in pop culture.
"Look what Tina Fey did to Sarah Palin [during the 2008 election]. 'I can see Russia from my house!' I mean, that was the end of Sarah Palin," Behar said of the show's influence in the political space.
In addition to conservative blowback online, SNL alum Victoria Jackson — a Trump supporter — told TMZ that she felt Hanks' segment was "stupid."
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