Joy Behar Criticized for White House Press Sec. Jab, While Whoopi Rips ‘Wokeness’ Stance

On Tuesday, the new White House Press Secretary held her first briefing — which included her explaining Donald Trump’s administration would no longer provide “funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies,” as well as announcing seats in the room for new media, like podcasters and influencers.

The latter update sparked a confused reaction from Joy Behar, who asked, “What’d she say? So instead of Bob Woodward, they want Kim Kardashian? What? I don’t get it.”

Then, moderator Whoopi Goldberg went in on Leavitt for specifically calling out “wokeness” as something Trump’s administration is against.

“I would like this young lady … I’d like her to do her homework because she said something yesterday that really pissed me off. And that was, she said there will be no wokeness here,” Goldberg began, saying that thanks to “wokeness,” women like Leavitt have the jobs they have today.

“Because women were not invited to that table. Women were not invited to many tables in this nation. The reason we fought and busted our behinds [was] to make sure that you didn’t have to worry about this,” Whoopi continued.

“The wokeness was put in place for a reason. Because Black people couldn’t get into colleges. Because women could not get into the colleges they wanted to go to, this is all women. Women were not invited to this party, it was a man’s world and we busted our asses to make sure this was a person’s world,” she added, before telling Leavitt and people like her to “stop using that phrase because you don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“It’s not a terrible thing to be,” she added of being “woke” — saying, “That’s what we were fighting for, so you could stand in that podium. My point is that job would not maybe have been open to her without us.”

Behar then interjected, saying the new Press Secretary had “probably been put in there because according to Donald Trump, she’s a 10” — referring to Leavitt’s looks — and adding, “You know that’s what it is.”

That comment has already sparked serious backlash from conservatives on social media.

As the women then began to discuss the role of “new media” in the press briefings going forward, Alyssa Farah Griffin said she thought it was “kind of brilliant” — pointing out that “how people consume media has drastically changed.” She also said the 2024 election was the “Joe Rogan, Theo Vonn, Alex Cooper election” — adding that she believes this new move is “an an acknowledgement that Trump realizes this.”

After Joy expressed skepticism that all the new influencers and podcasters allowed wouldn’t just be on Trump’s “side,” Griffin added that she didn’t have “an issue with partisan outlets being there as long as it’s representative of both sides and you have non-biased, traditional media there as well.”

Sunny Hostin, meanwhile, was also skeptical.

“She’s saying these people are going to apply are going to meet their criteria. We understand their criteria is woefully deficient and unserious,” said Hostin, claiming disinformation was a real issue during the last election — and blaming influencers and podcasters for spreading it across social media.

“Why are they qualified to sit in the white house briefing room? Traditionally … you have to have a journalism degree, you have to have qualifications, so I guess the rise of mediocrity is here to stay,” she added.

Like Griffin, Sara Haines also pointed out that most people get their news now from social media — adding, “I’d rather have them in that room.”

“I feel a lot better when I know there are standards people have to meet. You can bring in whoever you want. The proof will be in the pudding,” said Whoopi, as the conversation came to a close .

“There’s too much BS floating out there and now it’s out of our hands. There’s no way to control it. They’re saying they’re going to control it, I wanna see what they’re gonna do,” she said. “I wanna see who they’re going to invite into this. Quite honestly, I like when we’re held to standards. We have to have ourselves together, we can’t just say stuff in spite of what they tell you. They can’t just spout stuff. So I want that for everyone. If they’re gonna guarantee that at the briefing, I’ll be happy.”