‘The View’ Hosts Split on Amber Ruffin Correspondents’ Dinner Firing: ‘Another Hack at Free Speech’ or ‘Prudent Decision’ | Video

Comedian and “Late Night” writer Amber Ruffin lost her White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner hosting gig on Saturday, and come Monday morning, the hosts of “The View” were split pretty evenly on the decision.

The announcement came after WHCA president Eugene Daniels told members in a letter that the board voted unanimously to abandon a comedic headlining act altogether, to “ensure the focus is not on the politics of division.” However, some believe that the decision was made after Ruffin made it clear during an interview that she’d have serious words for those in attendance, whom she called “murderers.”

“They were, like, ‘You need to be, you know, equal and make sure that you give it to both sides’ and blah, blah, blah,” Ruffin explained. “And I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to be freaking doing that, dude.'”

“So I think it just — they got their feelings hurt,” Ruffin added. “And they want that false equivalency that the media does! They want that. It feels great. It makes them feel like human beings, but they shouldn’t get to feel that way because they’re not.”

According to “The View” host Alyssa Farah Griffin, that interview is what made her feel more OK with Ruffin getting ousted from the job, after initially thinking that the WHCA members were just “being a bunch of cowards.”

“I actually support the decision,” Farah Griffin admitted. “And I worked with most of the people in the White House Correspondents’ Association. Eugene Daniels is a very serious journalist, and I think it was actually the prudent decision.”

Hosts Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro disagreed though, arguing that opting out of having a comedian altogether was just another form of capitulating to Donald Trump’s wants.

“I think he capitulated just like Chuck Schumer did,” Hostin said.

Meanwhile, host Sara Haines was surprised Ruffin was even scheduled in the first place — or rather, that any comedian was once again invited to host the event, as has become tradition.

“I just don’t think this is an administration with a lot of sense of humor,” Haines said, reminding the audience that Trump only started running for president the first time because of a joke President Obama made at the same dinner.

“So I think in hearing kind of the direction she was going, this wasn’t going to be a fun, like, throwing it out at everyone in a room,” Haines continued. “That’s why a lot of comedians work as hosts when it comes to Oscars, and they go after everyone. I would prefer it to be funny. And it sounds like this was going to be like a tinderbox.”

Eventually, it came time for Whoopi Goldberg to weigh in, and she landed on the side of disagreement, also pointing out that Ruffin’s style of comedy has long been established.

“You knew who she was. You know the kind of humor she does, and you know she doesn’t go tiptoe lightly,” Whoopi said. “So for you all to have invited her and then go, ‘Uh oh, uh oh, we should stop that,’ seems to be, for me, another hack at free speech.”

“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.

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