Whoopi Goldberg shuts down heated clash over Sunny Hostin's 'roaches' comparison on The View

Whoopi Goldberg attempted to exterminate a heated on-air clash over Sunny Hostin's "roaches voting for Raid" comparison on Tuesday's episode of The View.

After new season 26 cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin spoke out against fellow panelist Hostin's controversial quote from Thursday's episode of the long-running talk show, the pair engaged in a tense exchange that prompted the Oscar-winning actress to interject.

"Last week you called white Republican women cockroaches. You said they were acting like cockroaches," Griffin — a former Donald Trump associate — said to Hostin, who responded: "Actually, I didn't. I used a simile. I used a metaphor."

The duo continued to speak over one another before Goldberg stepped in. "Here's what I'm going to ask you all to do," Goldberg said, raising her voice as she repeated herself. "Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. I'm going to ask you to tone it down a bit because I can't hear anything. No one can hear what we're saying."

ABC (2) Whoopi Goldberg scolds Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin on 'The View'

Hostin then asked Goldberg if she could respond to Griffin's accusation.

"My mother is a white woman, I wouldn't say that. Second of all, what I used was a metaphor, really more a simile. I said white women Republicans, I just read a poll that the suburbans are now voting Republican, that is like roaches voting for Raid," Hostin explained while Griffin continued to interrupt her. "Let me finish. That was John Leguizamo's joke, a joke I used on this show a few weeks ago referring to Latinos, and no one had anything to say about it. The last thing I'll say is I continued by saying, 'Do they want to be in Gilead [from The Handmaid's Tale]? Do they want to lose their rights?' You are actually twisting what I said."

Goldberg finally stepped in to calm the spat. "We're going to break, I can't take it," she said before the show cut to commercial. "We'll be right back."

When the show returned, Griffin elaborated on her stance and why she felt the need to call Hostin out for her words.

"I misquoted Sunny, I think she clarified what she said: It was a simile, it was an analogy, it was not saying that white Republican women are bugs," she said. "I think the point I was trying to make is part of the left — not the entirety, some of my best friends worked for Barack Obama, I love many Democrats — but some on the left though have taken such a negative approach to people who view things differently. We talk about democracy at this table. My vote, my perspective, my voice, my lived experience matters as much as anyone else's at this table, and this idea that because someone disagrees with you, we should be name-calling, we should be getting into low blows... the fact that we're not comfortable with our kids watching our politics, that says a lot about all of us. We all have a duty — and I'm sure I'm guilty of it — of taking the tone down."

Last week, Hostin caused a stir during a discussion about abortion rights in America after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

"What's also surprising to me is the abortion issue. I read a poll just yesterday that white, Republican, suburban women are now going to vote Republican. It's almost like roaches voting for Raid, right?" Hostin said, adding that those women would be "voting against their own healthcare" by supporting conservatives in office.

ABC Sunny Hostin compares white Republican women voting conservative to 'roaches voting for Raid.'

Hostin previously opened up about her personal anti-abortion stance, though she supports pro-choice politicians.

"I have that view," Hostin said. "I am very surprised that white, Republican, suburban women are voting against their own healthcare. I have not really recently evolved on the issue. I'm Catholic, that's my faith. I believe that abortion is wrong for me. There's a separation between a government and church, and I do not have the right to tell someone else [what to do]. However, they are voting against their own self-interest."

The View airs weekdays at 11:00 a.m. ET on ABC.

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