The hosts of the daytime talk show The View criticized Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez on Wednesday over her handling of a colleague’s social media post that has caused a public meltdown at the paper. The controversy began when fellow Washington Post reporter David Weigel retweeted a joke that read: “Every woman is bi. You just have to figure out whether it’s polar or sexual.” Some Twitter users, Washington Post employees, and other unintelligent people without senses of humor interpreted the joke and Weigel’s retweet of it as sexist. Sonmez first called attention to the retweet on June 3 with the comment: “Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed!” 

Weigel quickly retracted his retweet and issued an apology. Liberal commentators did not respond favorably to his contrition, with one tweeting in response: “You are still misogynistic trash.” Research suggests that apologies issued in public controversies either have no effect on the desire to punish the offending individual or actually make people more inclined to punish them. In Weigel’s case, the Washington Post suspended him for a month without pay.

Sonmez’s decision to go public with her criticism of Weigel and not handle the matter internally did not sit well with everyone. Another Post reporter by the name of Jose Del Real criticized Sonmez, agreeing that while Weigel’s retweet was “terrible and unacceptable,” her intense public criticism against him amounted to bullying. The incident has destabilized the Post and divided staff.

The View, famous for its liberal viewpoints and provocations, discussed the incident on Wednesday. Host Whoopi Goldberg opened the segment by summarizing the controversy and noting in seeming exasperation: “I lost the whole trail a little while ago.” Lindsey Granger, a guest host who tends to lean more to the right than the other panelists, said that Sonmez made an error by making herself the story and pointed to the journalist’s controversial tweet referencing rape allegations against Kobe Bryant in the immediate aftermath of the basketball player’s death in 2020. Citing declining public trust in institutions, Granger implored people to “use Twitter responsibly.”

Co-host Sara Haines also chimed in, imploring young people to think before they tweet. She went on to call Sonmez’s tone “disappointing” and accused her of seeking publicity instead of trying to fix real problems. Fellow host Joy Behar sounded a less critical note, saying that Sonmez’s handling of the situation was poor but that Weigel’s retweet of the joke was also problematic, asking rhetorically: “What are you, 12? Grow up.”

Haines energetically responded that Weigel’s quick retraction and apology should count in his favor and said that “People make mistakes … let’s be the example we hope to see in the world because right now, I mess up. I hope people have grace when I mess up and it depends how big you mess up. He retweeted a joke that was inappropriate, he was called out, he deleted it, he apologized, she is still going.”

“She’s still going right now!” Haines emphasized.

On Thursday, Somnez issued 16 additional tweets on the situation.