'The View' Offers a Bold Take After Nicole Scherzinger's Political Controversy

The ladies of The View didn’t back away from discussing the recent online upset centered around a statement Nicole Scherzinger shared on social media. 

Late last week, the former Pussycat Dolls singer commented on a two-part Instagram post uploaded by Russell Brand on Tuesday, Nov. 5. In one image, the English actor smiled as he showed off a red hat that mimics the “Make America Great Again” baseball caps often worn by Donald Trump supporters. Instead, Brand’s hat was stitched with a different message: “MAKE JESUS FIRST AGAIN.” The second image featured a screenshot of a statement Russell tweeted, presumably related to the election held that same day, which read, “God Bless America.” 

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Shortly after Broadway’s Sunset Blvd. star came across the post, she replied, “Where do I get this hat!!!? 🙏🏽❤️,” which upset fans who interpreted it as an indication of where the 46-year-old stood politically.

After a weekend of fans sharing their unfiltered thoughts online, Whoopi Goldberg introduced the discussion to the ABC morning talk show, asking her co-hosts on Monday’s episode what they thought of the uproar after providing a bit of background on the situation and Scherzinger, who was raised in Louisville, Kentucky, is a devout Catholic and has publicly supported the LGBTQ community.

“It’s overkill,” said Ana Navarro. “I think people are losing their minds. Right now social media is a rough, rough place to be. You can literally post a picture of puppies and there will be people attacking you,” noting the internet it’s an especially tough place to be right now as peoples “emotions are so raw” from the Nov. 5 election.

“Every day I get thousands of people telling me to ‘go eat another burrito and go back to Mexico,” Navarro (who is Nicaraguan-American) added. “I ain’t going anywhere.”

“Emotions are so raw…” Sunny Hostin, 56, later agreed, “but I think this is just ridiculous.”

Co-host Sara Haines also chimed in to explain how this is an example of a “poisonous and toxic” type of “mob mentality on social media.”

“People are calling for her to not be nominated for a Tony,” Haines, 47, reminded viewers. “This has gotten out of control.”

Scherzinger has since apologized for the comment–another move the morning talk show hosts found to be unnecessary.

“I deeply apologize for the hurt caused by my recent engagement with some social media posts,” Scherzinger’s lengthy Nov. 8 statement began. “When I commented on these posts, I made the mistake of not realizing that they could be easily interpreted as being politically related and I apologize to anyone who understandably reached that conclusion.”

“Many presumptions are being drawn, which do not reflect who I am, what I stand for, or who I voted for. Many of the marginalized communities feeling hurt and concerned by the results of the presidential election are people I care about most. I stand with them, as I always have, throughout my life and career. If you know me, you know that,” she added in part.

“She shouldn’t have apologized,” Navarro said in defense of the award-winning actress during the Hot Topics segment of the Nov. 11 broadcast, suggesting, “don’t go on social media if you can’t take the heat because people are crazy.”

“Does this mean I can get tickets now for the show,” the 52-year-old political commentator continued, joking, “because it was very sold out.”

“And it’s still going to be very sold out,” Goldberg, 68, interjected. “She’s brilliant in the show. She liked a hat. Relax. She liked a hat about Jesus. I would think that would be a unifying thing. It’s a hat. It’s just a hat.”

Next: ‘The View’s Sunny Hostin Under Fire After Unfiltered Comments About Election Directed at Women