Joy Behar has faced criticism after telling queer people to come out at Thanksgiving (Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)
The View host Joy Behar has been hit with backlash after telling LGBT+ people to “just come out” to their family this Thanksgiving.
Behar, 79, received criticism after suggesting on Wednesday’s show that people come out to their families to “see what happens”.
She was discussing the political arguments families tend to have on Thanksgiving with co-host Whoopi Goldberg when she made the gaffe.
“I’d like to suggest to everybody out there, come out to your family this Thanksgiving, just come out! See what happens,” Joy Behar said on the show.
“If you’re gay, come out. Meaning be your authentic self. I’m old enough now, I know that life is short… I say that you should be yourself, this is my philosophy in life.”
AVOIDING POLITICAL TALK THIS THANKSGIVING? The co-hosts discuss if politics is a topic that is better left off the table this #Thanksgiving and question if it will be a tricky conversation to avoid. https://t.co/cVclFZyKV0 pic.twitter.com/vd3CfcyzVH
— The View (@TheView) November 25, 2021
While well-intentioned, several people took to Twitter to say that coming out as LGBT+ around Thanksgiving may not be as easy as Joy Behar implied it is.
One Twitter user said: “She’s gonna get so many people disowned this week.”
Another person wrote: “Is coming out a joke to you? How dare you take a very important and sensitive moment in someone who is part of the LGBTQIA community and turn it into a joke?
“Some people have been shunned from their family because of it.”
Another viewer said: “I just want to know why The View still has Joy Behar on the show, it’s time to put her away, coming out of the closet is not as simple as she is claiming it to be.”
Behar won a GLAAD award in 2010 for her work in amplifying stories of LGBT+ people and community issues on her own talk show.
The Joy Behar Show was nominated for a separate GLAAD award that year for an episode featuring screenwriter Dustin Lance Black speaking about his mormon upbringing as a gay man.