Charlamagne tha God won’t be explicitly endorsing either presidential candidate this year, though he has made his opinion on Donald Trump very clear. He pushed back on the hosts of “The View” on Wednesday morning when asked why he wouldn’t explicitly, publicly endorse Biden.
The host and comedian stopped by the ABC talk show in support of his new book, “Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks,” and naturally, he and the women got onto the topic of politics pretty quickly. Host Sunny Hostin immediately questioned his decision not to endorse anyone in 2024, saying “Now is not the time, in my opinion, to sit this one out.”
But, Charlamagne was quick to note that he’s not sitting out the election at all. He’s “definitely voting in November,” but he’s voting over issues at large, not the candidates themselves. Plus, he thinks what he’s already said publicly makes it very clear who he’s voting for.
“If I’m sitting here telling my listeners that, you know, you have somebody out there who is a threat to democracy, you have somebody out there who said they want to suspend the constitution and overthrow the results of an election, you saw this person try to lead an attempted coup of this country,” he said. “And I’m telling people that this guy’s a threat to democracy — have you ever read ‘Project 25?’ There’s only two candidates out there. So, if I’m saying that about this individual, the choice is clear, right?”
At that point, the host called out the women for pushing others to endorse also, specifically calling out a February interview with rapper Killer Mike after his arrest at the Grammys.
“And I’ve seen y’all do this on ‘The View’ before. I saw y’all do this to Killer Mike when he was on ‘The View,’” he said. “And Killer Mike literally sat here and said ‘Hey, I supported Keisha Lance Bottoms. I supported Raph Warnock. I supported Jon Ossoff, right? In Georgia. He said ‘You should support the person who the people I’ve supported are supporting.’”
He continued, “That’s y’all’s opportunity to say ‘Well clearly he’s talking about President Biden.’ Why do y’all need us to say this, if we don’t feel comfortable saying it?”
To that, moderator Whoopi Goldberg jumped in, clarifying that it’s not her and her cohosts that need an endorsement, but perhaps normal voters.
“No, no, it’s not that we need you to say it, but I think other folks need to hear,” she said. “Because … one of the things that we’ve been talking about is the fact that getting facts out through the media has been — seems to be very difficult.”
When Charlamagne responded by saying he “spewed some facts” just moments earlier, Whoopi smiled and replied “Yes, but we need you to do it on your show.” Still, Charlamagne was steadfast in his decision.
“If I think both candidates are trash, and I don’t feel like endorsing one, would you rather me endorse an individual, or endorse the fact that, hey, we need to go out here and protect democracy?” he said.
In the end, the interview ended amicably, with Whoopi even joking that she would “beat [his] behind” after he pointed out that third-party candidates do exist.
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
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