NEW YORK — One day after nurses went after “The View” on social media over comments made by two co-hosts regarding Miss Colorado in the Miss America pageant, the show responded Wednesday by saying they love nurses.
“We love nurses … we adore you, we respect you,” co-host Michelle Collins said on Wednesday’s show. “You guys are wonderful, you’re the most compassionate people. … I was not talking about her as a nurse, we were talking about the talent competition and I think it got misconstrued.
“By the way, if your bosses are watching, you all deserve raises,” she added. “Give them more money, give them everything, take my money.”
During the 2016 Miss America Pageant on Sunday, Miss Colorado Kelley Johnson of Windsor performed a monologue in which she talked about her profession as a nurse during the talent portion while wearing scrubs.
On the next day’s “The View,” Collins poked fun at the monologue, saying Johnson “basically read her emails out loud — and shockingly did not win.” Collins added, “She helps patients with Alzheimer’s, which is not funny, but I swear, you had to see it.”
But Joy Behar took it to another level during the segment when she said: “Why does she have a doctor’s stethoscope around her neck?”
That set off a revolt in social media, with nurses defending their jobs and starting a #NursesUnite backlash on Twitter.
Behar said Wednesday she wasn’t paying attention during the segment and didn’t know Johnson was a nurse.
“I was looking at a Miss America tape and there’s a woman wearing like an outfit,” Behar said. “And I’m thinking, ‘Is she in costume?’ I didn’t know she was a nurse. I’m used to seeing them in gowns and bathing suits. It is not like I was trying to be funny. It was stupid and inattentive on my part.”
Later in the segment, Collins called nurses “hilarious” and Behar said “Nurses are great.”
But moderator Whoopi Goldberg had a comment for those who took offense: “You just have to listen. You have to pay attention. You have to look at folks and say, ‘Is that what they said? Or did she make a joke?”