“The View” co-host Joy Behar corrected herself on Thursday after claiming that Elon Musk was “pro-apartheid,” conceding that she really had no idea if he was or not.
“I’m getting some flack because I said that Musk was pro-apartheid. I don’t really know for sure if he was,” Behar said at the start of their second segment. “He grew up in that time when it was full-blown before the great Nelson Mandela fixed that. He was around at that time. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. He might have been a young guy too, so don’t be suing me, okay, Elon?”
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin noted that Musk, who was born in South Africa, is a naturalized citizen of the U.S. earlier in the discussion, after Behar made the claim.
“Elon Musk kisses his butt and strokes his tiny ego or big ego, whatever it is, and he doesn’t get to do, he can take a nap, while the guy, who was not born in this country, who was born under apartheid in South Africa, so has that mentality going on. He was pro-apartheid as I understand it,” Behar claimed in the first segment of the show on Thursday.
Joy Behar claimed on Thursday that Elon Musk was “pro-apartheid” in South Africa. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
TWITTER USERS EXPLODE AT NY TIMES FOR ELON MUSK ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’ HIT PIECE: ‘THEY’RE CALLING HIM A RACIST’
“I think this is just perfectly wonderful for Trump. He can take a nap and let this foreigner, foreign agent, you know, an enemy of the United States do his job,” she said.
“Elon Musk has done more to improve the lives of Americans in four weeks than Joy Behar has done in her entire life,” Harrison Fields, a Special Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Criticisms of Musk and the Trump administration’s policies have been regular talking points on the show.
“The View” co-hosts were discussing Musk’s attendance at the first cabinet meeting on Wednesday when Behar made the claim.
After correcting herself, she said, “They’re allowed to say any lie they want, but we have to be really strict.”
Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
“That’s why this show’s important,” Behar added.
After Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, before eventually turning into X, The New York Times published a report that said Musk was detached and sheltered from the atrocities of South African apartheid.
At the time, Musk’s mother, May Musk, pushed back on the report.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“In South Africa, if you publicly opposed apartheid, you went to jail,” Maye Musk said in a post on social media. “In Russia, if you publicly oppose the war, you go to jail.”
She also pointed out that Musk was just a child and should not be held responsible for the actions of his government.
“@Nytimes are you going to blame children for decisions made by governments?” Maye Musk asked.
