Joy Behar is Baffled by CNN's Jeff Zucker Controversy: 'This is Not a #MeToo Thing, Is It?'

Joy Behar was left scratching her head Thursday morning as the women of The View discussed CNN president Jeff Zucker resigning after a consensual relationship with a key executive, Allison Gollust, came to light. The longtime co-host was baffled by Zucker's resignation, and she repeatedly asked "what's the problem" with a relationship between the network president and one of his key lieutenants. "This is not a #MeToo thing, is it?" she asked, before peppering her co-hosts with questions about the controversy.

On Wednesday, Zucker issued a memo to staff announcing that he will be resigning over his relationship with Gollust, CNN's current executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo's tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 year," he wrote. "I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn't. I was wrong. As a result, I am resigning today."

Behar repeated as much as she introduced the Hot Topic, but her confusion was apparent. "So, they're two consenting adults," she said. "What's the problem there, exactly?"

Sunny Hostin was about to jump in — "Well," she said, with a small laugh at Behar's expense — but Sara Haines beat her to the punch. "The problem is the optics of this. If you've advanced at all or garnered special favor from a boss you're intimate with, that's problematic in a workplace," she told Behar. "Now that that's released, how do you ever discern the intimacy of a relationship with your professional skills in a job?"

Hostin, a former CNN employee, agreed, saying that "fairness is the big thing" in this situation. "You have someone like Allison Gollust, who's saying, 'I'm going to stay here,'" she said. "She started out as a publicist, a senior publicist, and now she's the executive vice president at CNN."

When Behar asked if Hostin "attribute[s] that to her relationship with Zucker," Hostin said "it could be interpreted that way," as "it could be interpreted that she got those positions, those promotions, to be second in command at CNN because of that relationship."

CNN'S JEFF ZUCKER RESIGNS AFTER OFFICE RELATIONSHIP REVEALED: After the CNN president announced he's resigning for not disclosing a consensual relationship with a colleague, the co-hosts and @TaraSetmayer discuss the dangers of interoffice relationships. https://t.co/yIQrKL0OlH pic.twitter.com/FLs4UmPxXn

— The View (@TheView) February 3, 2022

"But how do you know that? How do you know that? Maybe she's highly qualified," interrupted Behar. "It's the appearance of impropriety!" replied Hostin. "If I were still working at CNN and I was one of her direct reports, I would think that she lacked judgement. I would be uncomfortable that she broke so many of those rules, and I would start questioning some of her leadership. I don't think she should stay."

After some more back and forth, during which guest co-host Tara Setmayer reminded Behar of the "power dynamic" at play between Zucker and Gollust, Behar seemed ready to close out the discussion, but not before making one more odd comment. "This is the way people used to meet, in their office, all the time. People had affairs all the time," said the longtime moderator. "People are going to meet people and have affairs in offices, and it's not necessarily a #MeToo thing."

Elsewhere on The View... Setmayer, a former GOP communications director, went after The Masked Singer for reportedly selecting Rudy Giuliani as a contestant on its upcoming season (according to Deadline, Giuliani was unmasked at a taping last week, prompting judges Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke to walk off the set in protest).

"Rudy Giuliani is a disgrace. He has disgraced himself, and it's a shame. He went from America's Mayor to having a bad hair dye job, sweating in public, to this joke of being an unmasked singer thing," said Setmayer. "The guys walking off on the show made a statement. Because Rudy Giuliani shouldn't be unmasked on a show; he should be in handcuffs, arrested by the Department of Justice."

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.