Behar Reportedly Apologizes for Pence Remark, Some Not Buying It

Disney CEO Bob Iger

 A host of ABC News' The View, Joy Behar, has reportedly apologized for comments she made against Vice President Mike Pence's Christian faith.

Los Angeles Times reporter Daniel Miller tweeted Thursday that during a shareholders meeting, Disney CEO Bob Iger "says Joy Behar apologized for things she has said about Christians and the Trump administration. Iger agrees that was appropriate."

Entertainment reporter Joe Flint of The Wall Street Journal tweeted Thursday, "Disney CEO Bob Iger says he took exception with Joy Behar's remarks about Christianity and VP Mike Pence. Says Behar apologized to Pence."

But conservative actor James Woods isn't buying it, tweeting Thursday, "So Disney made a 'corporate apology' on behalf of Joy Behar to shareholders to protect its stock value. Meanwhile Ms. Behar didn't apologize publicly to Vice President Pence at all. In fact, she has contempt for him and all Christians."
  
Christian groups are joining a campaign to hold ABC's The View accountable after co-hosts Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin made derogatory comments about Vice President Mike Pence's Christian faith.

The Media Research Center is calling on Christians to turn off the morning program, and it's also calling on companies to pull their ads from the show. A number of religious leaders are jumping on board the campaign to say "enough is enough" to what they see as anti-Christian bias displayed on the network.

'It has really surprised us," Christian Robey, political director for MRC, told CBN News. "I would say at the grassroots level we've had millions of people that we have engaged with on Facebook; hundreds of thousands on Twitter. We've heard from the community, the Christian community. We've had some of the most prominent groups, like FRC (Family Research Council) and American Family Association, Catholic League and EWTN and others that have come on board and shown their support."

Media Research Center President and Founder Brent Bozell started the campaign after Behar compared comments about Pence's prayer life to mental illness.

"It's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct, hearing voices," she said during the program on Feb. 13.

Hostin followed saying, "I'm Catholic; I'm a faithful person, but I don't know that I want my vice president speaking in tongues."

Behar later commented that she was joking about the remarks, but did not apologize. ABC News president James Goldston has yet to respond to a letter drafted by Bozell demanding an apology.

MRC has since launched a campaign asking Christians and The View's advertisers to take a stance against the anti-Christian bias.

According to MRC's website, during a June 2017 episode, the show's panel blamed Christians for taking away free contraception and compared believers to the Taliban.

MRC supporters have made more than 30,000 calls to ABC demanding the network apologize for the latest comments, and several faith leaders say it's time to hit them "where it hurts."

"Our friends at the Media Research Center are asking viewers to call out ABC on their 'wildly hypocritical' behavior," Family Research Council president, Tony Perkins, says.

"The hosts of The View and everyone at ABC would denounce any disparaging comments about Islam. However, their tolerance never seems to extend to Christianity. You can join MRC in hitting The View where it hurts—their corporate sponsorships."

"Make no mistake about it; this is an assault on the sensibilities of all Christians," Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, wrote. "No advertiser can justify supporting this show any longer."

"When Joy Behar and others mock the faith of Mike Pence, they are using him as a stand-in for the rest of us in Middle America. It is outrageous," said Gary Bauer of the conservative group American Values. "Such bigotry against the values of millions of Americans should not be tolerated by ABC."

"I think that it's hit a nerve, and I think that people have had this pent-up for a long time," Robey told CBN News. "And we certainly didn't expect it; we knew that people were going to be angry. We didn't know people were going to be this angry. And people see this for what it is. They see this as a group of people who are looking down upon their most cherished values and really holding them in low regard."

CBN News reached out to ABC for comment. The network has not yet responded to our inquiries.