When Joy Behar of 'The View' Wore Darker Makeup to Channel a ‘Beautiful African Woman' in 1970

In 2019, one of the senior editors at the entertainment website The Wrap tweeted a piece from Joy Behar's show from three years ago about the revival of curly hair. Inside the resurfaced clip by Jon Levine was one May 2016 episode of The View. During the episode, Behar brought up an op-ed in the New York Times that praised naturally curly hair, then exhibited a picture of herself with a tan and short, dark, curly hair.

As reported by The Wrap, Behar said at the time, "That is me. I was 29. It was a Halloween party, I went as a beautiful African woman. That’s my hair. I had makeup that was a little bit darker than my skin, but that’s my actual hair, though." The topic sparked a debate on set when Behar referenced an opinion piece by the New York Times that praised naturally curly hair.  Co-host Raven-Symoné, taken aback by the photograph, inquired whether she was using tanning lotion. Behar said that she sported cosmetics 'that was a little bit darker than my skin.' Raven-Symoné exclaimed, "You mean blackface." However, she subsequently said that she 'loved' Behar's appearance.

In 2019, however, Levine's post was met with significant criticism, with many calling out Behar to 'resign'. One user wrote on X at the time, "No excuses miss Behar that is playing black face, the governor was that a Halloween party tooBlack face is black face shame on you you hypocrite you should resign right now." Another disappointed critic chimed in, "I’d love nothing more than for her to be fired. This isn’t the one to sink her. This is a stupid story." One further irate user expressed, "But because @JoyVBehar said "beautiful" in front of "black woman" - that makes it okay. Hypocrisy and double standards at its best. @TheView and @JoyVBehar

along with @WhoopiGoldberg need to just go away."

Social media critics wasted no time taking to Twitter to draw parallels between Behar's predicament and the one that ultimately led to Megyn Kelly's dismissal from the Peacock Network. One of the critics jotted down, "Megan Kelly was fired for just talking about it. What a friggin’ double standard." Another user shared a similar sentiment, "Megyn Kelly was fired from her show for asking a hypothetical question about blackface. Joy Behar actually wore blackface and admitted it, and showed a picture of it on TV, yet she still has her job."

Kelly was famously fired from her position at NBC in 2018 after she openly wondered whether it would be appropriate to appear in blackface for Halloween. As reported by AP News, Kelly said at the time, "Truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character." As per the outlet, those who were critical of her said that she was blind to the racist minstrel performances and films that used white actors in blackface to ridicule blacks.