Viewers Slam ‘Disgusting’ Joy Behar After Kiss with Married Actor

Joy Behar is once again at the center of controversy after an eyebrow-raising moment on The View had viewers accusing the longtime liberal co-host of crossing a very public line.

The 83-year-old daytime TV personality sparked a wave of backlash after she appeared to pull married actor Anson Mount into a kiss during Wednesday’s episode of the ABC talk show. While Behar and her co-hosts laughed off the exchange as harmless fun, critics online were not nearly as amused.

Some viewers blasted the moment as “disgusting,” while others argued there would have been a much louder outrage if a male host had done the same thing to a female guest on live television.

The awkward exchange unfolded as Mount, best known for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, made his way down the table to greet the panel. The 53-year-old actor, who has been married to photographer Darah Trang since 2018, first greeted Whoopi Goldberg and Sara Haines before arriving at Behar’s seat.

After the pair hugged, Mount gave Behar a kiss on the cheek. But the greeting did not stop there. Behar then puckered her lips, prompting Mount to lean in for what became a kiss on the mouth.

Behar appeared to hold onto him for an extra moment, wrapping an arm around the actor before the two finally separated and Mount made his way to his seat.

The studio audience laughed, and the panel quickly turned the moment into a running gag. But outside the friendly confines of The View’s studio, the reaction was far more brutal.

Sunny Hostin kept the joke going by handing Mount a tissue to wipe away Behar’s lipstick, teasing, “No wonder Joy has been talking about you all morning.”

Behar leaned into the moment, quipping, “I’m old, but I’m not dead.”

Mount played along, joking back, “That’s it, Joy, because I am,” as the audience laughed again.

Goldberg then asked Behar if she was “okay,” to which the veteran co-host replied, “I need a little bit of a touch-up.”

The panel seemed eager to frame the kiss as harmless comedy, but many viewers said the moment felt uncomfortable, especially because Mount is married.

The jokes continued when Behar brought up Mount’s previous appearance on the show, recalling that he once brought her flowers for her birthday. She joked that “it’s never been the same between us.”

Mount quickly reminded her of one major detail.

“Well, I got married,” he said.

“That’s what I mean!” Behar shot back.

That line may have landed as a joke in the studio, but it only fueled the outrage online, where critics accused Behar of behaving in a way that would be fiercely condemned if the political or gender roles were reversed.

“Ewwww! That is simply DISGUSTING television. Are you f*cking kidding me? I’m far from a prude, just nauseated,” one X user wrote after The View shared the clip.

Another fumed, “Behar is one sick puppy!! So desperate to have someone kiss her that she has to pull in a married guest to fulfill her need! How DESPICABLE!”

A third viewer argued the moment exposed a double standard, writing, “If this had been a male host who did this to a female, he would be canceled and would never work in the entertainment business again. He would also probably be prosecuted. The hypocrisy is astounding.”

Others claimed Mount looked uncomfortable during the exchange and accused The View of trying to spin an awkward moment into a cute bit for social media.

“You keep promoting this disgusting incident like it was some sort of charming display of affection,” one critic wrote. “You could see he didn’t like it… he was grossed out.”

Another person called the moment “forcible touching at bare bone minimum,” adding that Behar would have reacted very differently if the situation had been reversed.

Still, not everyone saw the kiss as a scandal. Some fans defended Behar and Mount, insisting the backlash was overblown and that the two were clearly joking.

“I love this!” one supporter wrote. “Amazing to be friends. So loving and beautiful but in a very friendly way.”

Another viewer added, “So funny. I am jealous of Joy. He is a handsome man. Some of these comments are so sad, people need to get a sense of humor.”

Mount later addressed the viral moment in an interview with TV Insider and made clear that the person whose opinion mattered most did not seem offended.

The actor joked that he asked his wife to promise she would not divorce him after the clip spread online. According to Mount, Trang found the entire exchange “hilarious.”

He also reflected on his history with Behar, saying his earlier appearance on The View must have left an impression because he had once brought her flowers for her birthday.

“I guess I made an impression,” Mount joked. “So, we’ll see what she does the next time.”

For Behar, the moment may have been nothing more than another off-the-cuff joke on a show known for its loud opinions and loose banter. But for many viewers, the kiss was another example of The View saying one thing about boundaries, respect, and accountability — and then laughing when one of its own appears to blur those lines on national television.