The ladies of The View were quick to defend Elisabeth Hasselbeck, their former cohost, after she has been accused of racism of her question of whether or not Sandra Bland was arrested because of the cigarette she refused to put out.
Hasselbeck, during a segment on Fox News, had wondered aloud if the reason Bland was arrested could have been that the cigarette was considered to be dangerous or perceived as a weapon.
“Somehow, suddenly, it is no longer OK to pose a question that will give you an answer in order to best understand what’s going on,” Goldberg argued, saying that it was Hasselbeck’s job as a journalist to pose such questions.
“We’ve been friends for about seven, eight years, and she has not asked me to pick any cotton,” Goldberg noted.
“You kind of have an idea of who watches Fox News,” Michelle Collins chimed in. “To ask if a cigarette could be used as a weapon … well, yeah, anything can be used as a weapon.”
Raven-Symone jumped in, saying, “There are a lot of people of color who think that white people shouldn’t ask certain questions because they don’t understand it … and I don’t think that’s fair.”
“We have to stop being so sensitive,” Raven-Symone added.
“I didn’t find it offensive at all. I felt that she was asking a provocative question as a journalist,” said Rosie Perez.
Goldberg rounded out the conversation by saying, “If we stop asking questions, how will we ever know the truth?Relax; you’ll recognize the real racists. You know them when you see them and when you hear them. This woman sat here for 12 years and had disagreements that does not make her a frickin’ racist. Sorry.”