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Joy-less liberal TV hosts slam football, claim conservative, straight men support the ‘gladiator spectacle’

January 5, 2023 | | Print Article

Joy Behar and Joy Reid, two very unjoyful liberal TV hosts, have both effectively declared war on football and — in the case of Behar — its dearest fans.

First up is Behar, who made it a point during Wednesday’s episode of “The View” to disdainfully note that primarily heterosexual men and conservatives — her biggest political enemies — support football in its original form.

“Only 45 percent of Americans think that tackle football is appropriate. Heterosexual men voted the most support for kids doing football. And conservatives were more likely to support youth tackle football. Just saying,” she said.

Listen from around the 1:40 mark below:

But she wasn’t done with her trash-talking.

Speaking next, “The View” co-host Sara Haines said that because of the science, she’s drawn a hard line in the sand for her own kids.

“As you see some of the science coming out and the risks of CTE, as a parent, it’s the one hard line I draw in the sand that I will not even let my kids pretend to fall in love or get a chance to fall in love with that sport, because I look at my own family,” she said.

“We have depression. It runs in the family. We’ve got things we’re not going to be able to avoid. You have natural disasters in the world. You have cancer and you have sickness. I don’t want to increase any chance that my children could deal with some of the mental problems of head injuries,” she added.

Co-host Sunny Hostin then briefly cut in to say, “I think a lot of mothers certainly feel that way and have felt that way for a long time. The way my son describes [football] is it’s a family. It’s a bonding experience that he had never had before.”

This prompted someone else — it’s not clear who — to say, “But there are other team sports.”

This in turn prompted more trash-talking from Behar.

“Play golf … or tennis!” she dismissively said, as if the two sports are anything like football.

The combined remarks — both the poll and this — triggered backlash on social media.

Look (*Language warning):

As previously reported, all the recent hubbub over football is the result of NFL player Damar Hamlin suffering from cardiac arrest after tackling another team’s player during a game this Monday night. This is the “rare accident” mentioned by one of the critics above.

Behar isn’t alone in her newfound hatred of football. Indeed, she’s joined by the likes of Reid, who ranted and raved about football during the Tuesday broadcast of her MSNBC show.

“A horrifying on-field injury raises new questions about America’s obsession with the violent spectacle of professional football. It’s yet another tragic reminder of the inherent violence of the sport and the humanity of the young men who put their health and safety on the line for the NFL’s modern-day gladiator spectacle,” she said.

During a discussion soon after with William Rhoden, a racial extremist who thinks multimillionaire black athletes are equivalent to plantation slaves, she doubled down on this sentiment.

“One of the things people have been thinking about a lot is the level of concern that the NFL in general has for the bodies of these players. It’s a violent sport. It’s a brutal sport in a lot of ways,” she said to Rhoden.

Listen to the full segment below:

Reid is now also facing backlash:

Vivek Saxena
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