{"id":640354,"date":"2026-05-13T09:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/640354\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T09:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:59:09","slug":"the-view-co-hosts-feud-after-billy-bob-thornton-criticizes-celebrity-political-lectures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/640354\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The View\u2019 co-hosts feud after Billy Bob Thornton criticizes celebrity political lectures"},"content":{"rendered":"

As hosts of \u201cThe View\u201d criticized actor Billy Bob Thornton for criticizing politically outspoken celebrities<\/a>, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin reminded them of the time they told actor George Clooney to keep his mouth shut.<\/p>\n

During an appearance on the\u00a0\u201cHowie Mandel Does Stuff\u201d podcast<\/a>, the \u201cLandman\u201d actor, 70, explained why he\u2019s never been one to use his Hollywood platform to force political or personal beliefs on others, paraphrasing a famous Ricky Gervais quote warning against political speeches during an award show, \u201cGet your little award and f\u2014 off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anything about politics,\u201d Thornton said. \u201cI have no idea. And the stuff that I do believe, I don\u2019t want to force it down somebody else\u2019s throat because I\u2019m not an expert on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While co-host Whoopi Goldberg did not seem offended by the statement, co-host Joy Behar responded with contempt, saying, \u201cImagine bragging about how uninformed you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-host Sunny Hostin agreed, saying, \u201cWe are at a crisis point in this country. I think democracy is participatory.<\/p>\n

Billy Bob Thornton told Howie Mandel that he avoids using his Hollywood platform to push political views. Howie Mandel Does Stuff \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

When \u201cThe View\u201d hosts rebuked Thornton for his remarks, Alyssa Farah Griffin reminded them they criticized George Clooney for writing his Biden op-ed. The View \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you have a platform, that means I have an outsized voice and when you have a platform, I think that you have a responsibility to speak up about what\u2019s going on in this country and my view silence is complicity. We need every single ally to speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin responded by noting, \u201cA, Billy Bob Thornton is one of my favorite actors. I\u2019m never going to say a bad word about him, starting with that. But B, a lot of this table criticized George Clooney when he\u00a0wrote his Biden op-ed<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a celebrity using his voice, saying what he believes, it can\u2019t just be when they agree with your position,\u201d Griffin added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can say it and I can criticize it, that\u2019s called free speech,\u201d Behar retorted.<\/p>\n

Joy Behar said of Thornton, \u201cImagine bragging about how uninformed you are.\u201d The View \/ YouTube<\/p>\n

Griffin went on to criticize what she called \u201cslacktivism,\u201d where\u00a0celebrities feel righteous\u00a0for sending out political statements<\/a> without getting meaningfully involved in the actual work of politics themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we should bully people,\u201d she added, \u201csaying, \u2018You have to speak out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-host Sara Haines agreed, arguing that\u00a0celebrities making bombastic political statements\u00a0are just preaching to the choir of people who already agree with them and are enraging those who disagree with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As hosts of \u201cThe View\u201d criticized actor Billy Bob Thornton for criticizing politically outspoken celebrities, co-host Alyssa Farah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1508,12664,88,28593,10815,53594,2516,92,14300],"class_list":["post-640354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-actors","tag-billy-bob-thornton","tag-entertainment","tag-joy-behar","tag-media","tag-sunny-hostin","tag-the-view","tag-tv","tag-whoopi-goldberg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}