While the women of “The View” in no way condone anyone hitting anyone, the four co-hosts all seemingly supported a male subway rider who was caught on video slapping a woman in the face after she struck him first.
“Keep your tweets to yourself ’cause I’m about to piss you off,” Whoopi Goldberg said on Wednesday morning’s show. “If you slap anybody, put your hands on anybody, you cannot be guaranteed that he’s not going to slap the [expletive] out of you.”
Goldberg’s comments were met with applause from the live studio audience. Rosie Perez interjected to offer her take on the issue.
“When I first heard you make that comment, I got very nervous because I felt like it was giving license for men to attack women,” Perez said. “I do believe men should leave but, I felt a little hypocritical when I saw this. I was like, ‘OK, she needed to get slapped back.’ Because she really attacked this man.”
Perez elaborated on her feelings, saying: “Men, I don’t think you should ever hit women, but I think women, wake up. If you slap someone, you might get slapped back.”
R&B singer Ashanti, filling in for an absent Rosie O’Donnell, agreed with Goldberg and Perez.
“When you go and you slap a man, all bets are off,” she said.
“I don’t know, I’m Greek. We just scream at each other,” co-host Nicolle Wallace said before explaining the actual legal ramifications from this video.
“In the eyes of the Law, assault is assault. It does not discriminate based on your gender,” Wallace said. Four individuals seen on the video were later arrested, according to a NY Daily News report.
“You think you’re cute, you think that stuff looks good on YouTube and stuff but here’s the T – not everybody’s going to take that crap from you,” Goldberg said, speaking directly to the women in the video. “They’re not going to put up with it anymore. And I’ll tell ya, the next time y’all put your hands on somebody, you better think twice, because you don’t know who you touching.”
Watch the video from Wednesday morning’s “The View” above.