“The View,” a popular talk show, was hit with backlash after falsely claiming that the conservative organization Turning Point USA let Neo-Nazis into its summit last week.
On Monday, the hosts began their program discussing the TPUSA Student Action Summit that occurred last weekend in Tampa, Florida.
They mocked the protests outside the summit and inaccurately linked the organization with the GOP, and co-host Joy Behar criticized them over a group of neo-Nazi protestors outside the venue.
“Neo-Nazis were out there in the front of the conference with antisemitic slurs and, you know, the Nazi swastika and a picture of a so-called Jewish person with exaggerated features, just like Goebbels did during the Third Reich. It’s the same thing, right out of that same playbook,” Behar said.
Co-host Sara Haines then reported that TPUSA released a statement condemning the neo-Nazis, assuring they had “nothing to do” with their organization.
Behar asked where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was, saying he “did nothing,” but failed to mention that he attended the event the day before.
“But you let them in, and you knew what they were,” Whoopi Goldberg inaccurately said.
TPUSA issued a cease and desist letter to ABC News on Tuesday, demanding “that ABC immediately cease and desist from further unlawfully defaming TPUSA, retract the defamatory statements identified above, and issue a public statement apologizing for and correcting the above defamatory and false statements”.
The co-hosts apologized Wednesday, with Haines saying the neo-Nazis had no connection to TPUSA and that the event had no association with the Republican Party.
TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk had announced Monday that the organization is considering legal action against “The View”.
“Talking to lawyers. Many think we have a strong case. You cannot smear minors as Nazis and get away with it. It impacts them for the rest of their life. #SueTheView,” he tweeted.
While on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Kirk slammed the program for their comments.
“We had to threaten a lawsuit, Jesse. And by the way, we’re still entertaining it. We’re talking to some of the best lawyers out there that are experts in this. And as you know, these things can be very complicated,” he said.