Joy Behar Derails The View with Workplace Sex Joke

Whoopi Goldberg proclaimed Thursday "a day of zingers," but she likely wasn't referring to Joy Behar's ill-advised joke about having sex in the workplace. The mood was light as the co-hosts happily chatted through various softball Hot Topics, including Katie Couric's new book, in which she writes she would "ice out" female journalists to secure her own career. True to form, Behar displayed a shocking lack of awareness of the #MeToo movement when she joked that "laying down" with male co-workers is a way to get ahead in the industry, which... yuck.

For years, Behar has been committed to getting in her little jokes during Hot Topics, but this morning, she went into overdrive. After making a cringe-worthy joke about how people "literally look up to" LeBron James (he's tall, get it?), the longtime co-host doubled down on the comedy during the panel's Katie Couric discussion. "By the way, Katie, don't take on Martha Stewart. She was in the slammer," she said, earning a laugh from the audience. "She had the thing about Martha in there. It's like, be careful with that. When they do time, you never know."

The co-hosts went on to discuss the importance of women sticking together in the industry, but a few minutes later, Behar noted that "sometimes, there is only one slot" for women, particularly in media. "What's for you may be for the next one, too," she said. "So you have to fight a little bit, sometimes. That's what she did."

Joy is so shady 😂

I'm glad she clarified that Katie Couric didn't have to sleep her way to the top #TheView pic.twitter.com/BOlTYsSOBW

— The Chat (@LiveOnTheChat) September 30, 2021

"Yeah, I'm not saying lay down —" said Sara Haines. "Well, laying down is another way of doing it," cracked Behar, sending her co-hosts reeling.

At that point, Whoopi Goldberg had no choice but to send the show to commercial. "I don't think Katie did it like that," Behar could be heard saying as the cameras pulled away.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.