The ladies of The View descended into yet another chaotic debate on Wednesday, this time over the boundaries of free speech.
The fireworks were ignited when the panel tackled Meta’s recent decision to pull back on content restrictions and dismantle its fact-checking program—a move hailed by many as a victory for free expression, as reported by Fox News.
Sunny Hostin wasted no time sounding the alarm about the potential downside, stating, “There’s a difference between free speech and hate speech. Free speech, I welcome… When you start delving into hate speech, which is what is happening all over social media, there’s a problem with that.”
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Hostin’s take didn’t sit well with Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump administration staffer. Griffin countered by pointing out the historical liberal defense of free speech. “Liberals used to be the ones who were pro-free speech. The famous saying goes, ‘I disagree with what you’re saying, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.’”
That line prompted Whoopi Goldberg to jump in, cutting Griffin off mid-thought with, “I will not defend to the death your right to call me…” using explicit language to drive her point home.
Griffin attempted to regain the floor, expressing frustration that she was being repeatedly interrupted while others, like Hostin, spoke at length. “I guess no one gets to finish a sentence here anymore,” Griffin quipped, visibly irritated.
Goldberg didn’t back down, telling Griffin to “be nice” before defending her own stance: “There are certain things we all agree, boy, you shouldn’t be saying that. That is not curbing your free speech, it’s asking [for] respect.”
As the back-and-forth escalated, Joy Behar chimed in with a sweeping claim that hate speech disproportionately originates from majority groups targeting minorities.
“The people who are doing this are not from minority groups, they’re from majority groups,” Behar said. She also shared a personal anecdote, recalling how childhood taunts about her Italian heritage offended her.
Griffin shot back, arguing that everyone on the panel had been subjected to hate speech at some point. “Every person at the table gets hate speech directed at them,” she asserted, only to be met with more interruptions and eye-rolls from her co-hosts.
WATCH: “The View” Gets HEATED Over Free Speech pic.twitter.com/KbXT1OP189
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Behar stated: “I guess no one gets to finish a sentence here anymore.”
The debate crescendoed with Griffin challenging Hostin’s insinuation that Donald Trump’s 2016 election led to a spike in hate speech. “There’s never been a social media platform that’s existed where you can’t call people names,” Griffin said.
“It’s not because Donald Trump got elected, now you can call people names on social media—that’s just not true.”
By the end of the segment, it was clear the panelists were no closer to finding common ground on the issue. The only thing they seemed to agree on? Interrupting one another was fair game.
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