The co-hosts of The View on Friday slammed anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists as "nuts" and a danger to society. However, they avoided mentioning an awkward fact: Jenny McCarthy, an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, previously co-hosted the show. Whoopi Goldberg highlighted the story of a grandmother who wrote to an advice column about concerns over her conspiracy-minded adult children.
Co-host Nicolle Wallace mocked, "I think the anti-vaccine people are nuts." She endorsed the grandmother's concerns. Goldberg pushed back against the anti-vaccine crowd: "I think things like vaccinations are much different than just about everything else because vaccinations and not vaccinating your child has consequences for everyone your kid is around."
The elephant in the room for this entire conversation? Former co-host McCarthy. On April 9, 2009, she declared, "“The reason why [parents] are not vaccinating is because the vaccines are not safe."
On April 1, 2009, she falsely connected autism to vaccinations: "If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the fucking measles.”
On another occasion, she concluded, "Without a doubt in my mind, I believe that vaccinations triggered [my son] Evan's autism."
In an April 13, 2014 interview with the Chicago Sun Times, McCarthy tried to hide her past statements, revising, "I am not 'anti-vaccine.' This is not a change in my stance nor is it a new position that I have recently adopted."
Considering The View's promotion of a high-profile anti-vacciner, the show's current hosts are in little position to decry the conspiracy thinking. Given the fact that Rosie O'Donnell, a two-time View host, is a 9/11 truther, one shouldn't expect much from the ABC show.
A transcript of the March 20 segment is below:
11:16 ET
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: A grandmother wrote an online advice column asking if she should secretly vaccinate her grandson. Now her son and daughter-in-law chose not to vaccinate, but the more this grandmother reads, the more worried she's getting and the column advises against going against the wishes of the parents. But how would y'all handle it?
ROSIE PEREZ: I think it's very, very tricky because there are a lot of grandmothers who are raising their children's children.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Uh-huh.
PEREZ: So they have a lot of responsibility but without the rights to do it. So, it's very, very complicated. I would love to know the dynamics of that family.
NICOLLE WALLACE: I think the anti-vaccine people are nuts and if someone did that -- I mean, I just -- [ applause ] I think you're right with most decisions. It's complicated and many families you defer to the parents. But if I had made this decision and my mother took my son and vaccinated him, she would be the correct party, not me.
RAVEN SYMONE: It's their child to make that choice though. Right? No? It's their child.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: It is their child. But here's what concerns me. I think things like vaccinations are much different than just about everything else because vaccinations and not vaccinating your child has consequences for everyone your kid is around. So it's a different kind -- I think – it's a different kind of excuse.
