Joy Behar Just Tried to Defend Her Controversial Halloween Costume Again
During its nearly 25 years View, Joy Behar apologized and admitted some errors. But, when it comes to a scandalous situation from her past, the co-host and comedian holds her ground. In a new interview with Time, the 79-year-old TV personality has commented on dressing like what she described as “a beautiful African woman” for a Halloween party when she was younger. And, according to Behar, despite the backlash, “it wasn’t close to blackface at all.”
This isn’t the first time Behar has championed the costume, for which she wore an Afro-like hairstyle, earrings and makeup that was darker than her natural skin tone. Read on to find out why she won’t apologize for choosing to dress this way.
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During a 2016 episode View in which Behar talked about the growing popularity of naturally curly hair, the producers showed a photo of her wearing the costume in the early 1970s. Then co-host Corbeau-Symonéwho had never seen the photo before, jokingly said, “Joy, is that you? Joy, is that you? Joy, are you black? She looks black! … Are you my aunt, Joy?
Behar explained, “I was 29. It was a Halloween party. I went there as a beautiful African woman.” Raven-Symoné then said: “Oh yeah, you’re not Black.” Behar asked him, “Why are you mad at me now?”
“I thought it was… Did you put on some suntan lotion, Joy?” Raven-Symoné replied. To which Behar said: “I had makeup a little darker than my skin. But it’s my real hair.”
In September 2020, the See panel interviewed Kim Klacik, a black woman and Republican who was running for a seat in Congress from Maryland. When Behar told Klacik about donald trumpto the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect of the pandemic on black Americans, Klacik replied, “Is that Joy speaking? The same Joy who marched in blackface there is no so long? Come on, Joy, I don’t think you should ask yourself those questions.”
“That’s not true,” Behar replied. “Excuse me. Excuse me. The black community was supporting me. They know it wasn’t blackface, it was a tribute.”
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In his July 2022 interview with TimeBehar again addressed the suit and said, “For me, it was like, ‘Look how pretty I can look as a woman dressed like this.’ It was not at all close to blackface. It was bronzer, which I used with my natural curly hair. And the black community supported me because they understood what blackface is.”
She also said it was a black producer who first released the photo 20 years ago. “And then all of a sudden that image became verboten,” she said.
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View co-host had something to add after her interview with the Time reporter was over. The outlet explains that, in a follow-up statement, Behar said of the suit, “I would never do that now. I understand it’s offensive.”