Actress Cheryl Hines stopped by “The View” on Tuesday in support of her new book, and while there, the hosts pressed her about her husband RFK Jr.’s health advice and views. It got a bit tense at various points, with Hines even asking Sunny Hostin to let her finish speaking during one exchange.
The moment came as Hostin called out Kennedy as the least qualified Secretary of Health in history. The host was quick to remind Hines and the audience that Kennedy has no scientific or medical background, which Hines pushed back on by noting that one of President Obama’s Secretaries of HHS was an economist.
Hines questioned why Kennedy’s lack of medical or scientific experience made him less qualified than an economist, and also touted his record as a lawyer. But Hostin pushed back further.
“He has also spread a lot of misinformation, a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion, and I think it’s just a very dangerous thing,” Hostin said. “I say it with the utmost respect.”
At that, Hines tried to use Hostin’s mention of misinformation and disinformation to direct the conversation to the early days of the COVID pandemic.
“He’s connected circumcision to autism!” Hostin cut in.
“May I finish?” Hines retorted curtly.
The actress then called out Anthony Fauci for initially saying that getting the vaccine would prevent transmission of COVID, calling that disinformation and misinformation. But to that, host Alyssa Farah Griffin cut in, reminding Hines that COVID was still a “novel virus” at the time that everyone, including experts, were still learning about.
Throughout the conversation, the ABC hosts conceded that Hines should not have to take responsibility for her husband’s actions, with moderator Whoopi Goldberg saying at one point that “this is not your fight, really, to be fighting,” but noting that RFK Jr. won’t come on the show.
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.