Joy Behar Doesn’t Address Nurses Gaffe During Latest Standup Show

Joy Behar, during a stand-up performance in Harrisburg, avoided addressing the comments she made about nurses that landed her – and The View – in hot water.

Joy Behar’s Nurse Problem

Behar hit the stage at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg, Pa., on Sept. 26 for a stand-up comedy show. To the surprise of some in the audience, the comedian and The View co-host opted not to address her controversial remarks on the ABC show or her follow-up apology, according to PennLive.

During The View‘s Hot Topics segment on a show last month, Behar weighed in on Miss Colorado Kelley Johnson‘s talent portion at the 2015 Miss America pageant. Johnson, who works as a nurse, was clad in her nurses uniform and took the opportunity to deliver a monologue about the hard work she does every day. Behar was not impressed. “Why does she have a doctor’s stethoscope on?” Behar quipped on The View.

The joke sparked an incredible amount of backlash against the comedian on the Internet, leading to the creation of the hashtag “NursesUnite.” The social media movement demanded an apology from Behar, who had unintentionally insulted nurses with her comment. Feeling the heat of the controversy surrounding her, Behar offered up an apology.

“I was looking at a Miss America tape, and there’s a woman wearing an outfit with a stethoscope, and I’m thinking is she in a costume? I didn’t know she was a nurse,” Behar shared. “I’m used to seeing [pageant contestants] in gowns and bathing suits. It’s not like I was trying to be funny. It was just stupid and inattentive on my part. I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about.”

“My son-in-law is a physician assistant, one of my nieces is a nurse,” Behar added. “So I mean I know they use stethoscopes, I just was not paying attention.”

Behar’s Harrisburg show, instead of focusing on hot topics or politics, largely centered on her own biography, which includes a childhood in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood and her challenging rise to success in entertainment.