Jeanine Pirro says 'triggered' Whoopi Goldberg 'abused' her during heated 'View' interview
It's Whoopi Goldberg versus Jeanine Pirro, round two. Following Thursday's blowup at The View, Goldberg and Pirro went to their TV homes — ABC and Fox News, respectively — to rehash what transpired yesterday.
The disagreement couldn't be better timing for Pirro, who is currently on a press tour for her new book Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy. The Justice With Judge Jeanine host appeared on Fox and Friends Friday morning and called Goldberg's treatment of her "abuse."
"The first segment was relatively calm," Pirro recalled. "Then we came back [from commercial break] and it was no-holds barred. Whoopi got angry."
The heated exchange began during the second segment when Pirro mentioned "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and appeared to point in Golberg's direction. The View co-host (admittedly) lost her cool and abruptly ended the discussion telling Pirro, “Say goodbye! Bye. I’m done.”
But things really escalated when the women ran into each other backstage. Here's Pirro's version of events. After Goldberg "stormed off set," the former prosecutor and outspoken Trump supporter says that when she exited the stage, The View host was standing right there. Apparently, it wasn't an option to go around Goldberg, so Pirro was basically forced to say something.
"I said something like, 'Whoopi, you know, I've spent my whole life fighting for victims,' because we had talked about rape [on the segment] and all that … And she got right up in my face ... she says, ‘[F***] you, [F***] you,’” Pirro alleged. “And then, I said, ‘Did you just say [F***] you?’ And then she said ‘Get the [F***] out of this building, get the [F***] out of this building.”
Pirro maintained that she did nothing to provoke Goldberg, who was "nuts going off the set."
"Look, I've been a prosecutor, judge, DA for 30 years. I've tried murder cases. I can go toe-to-toe with anybody, but that was abuse and it was sad," Pirro exclaimed. "It was a sad moment. She was triggered, and I never understood ‘triggering.’”
Pirro was asked what she would say to Goldberg right now. The Fox News host looked at the camera and said, "I've always liked you Whoopi and I don't understand where the anger comes from. I went to have a conversation and I wasn't allowed to have a conversation. And I didn't deserve to be thrown out. We can't treat people like that. You just can't. We can disagree, but we need to be able to talk about it." Well, it turns out Goldberg was watching — or at least, she was filled in on what Pirro had to say. She addressed the incident on Friday's episode of The View.
"I want to clear up what happened [backstage] … [Jeanine] seemed to leave out some key points," Goldberg stated. "Well, she left a lot of pertinent stuff out."
Goldberg continued, "[Jeanine] was upset when she got here because [anti-Trump CNN contributor] Ana Navarro was here instead of Joy [Behar]. And after the segment — which ended when it was supposed to, she then called everybody at the table a name I cannot repeat on TV and said it in front of the audience."
Goldberg explained that she exited the set to calm down. She said Pirro easily could have walked around her backstage without a confrontation, but chose not to. They both agree on what happened next: Pirro came up, declaring 'I spend my whole life fighting for victims' and Goldberg fired off some "choice words" back.
"Yes, I did say [f*** you], but I did not spit on her," said Goldberg. "I did not intimidate her, no one chased her out of here saying 'get out.' But she did leave here cursing at the people who booked the show, she cursed at the guys who do the security for the show … You can come to this show, we treat everybody with respect. But you cannot come and call people names."
Goldberg concluded, "People who know Jeanine know exactly what I’m talking about, they know that she likes to stir it up. I rarely get stirred up, but I got stirred up yesterday. I did apologize for getting hot."
