First lady Melania Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told USA Today in a statement Tuesday that “The View” had a “petty, mean girl spirit” after a segment joking about a conspiracy theory that Melania used a body double.
"I’ve always found it sad that a group of women spend so much time attacking another woman, whose only goal is to help children," Grisham wrote. "Yesterday’s show went beyond the petty, mean-girl spirit that we’ve grown accustomed to.”
Grisham also pointed out the context behind some of the pictures that the women on “The View” were laughing about in their discussion.
.@flotus & @potus traveled to Alabama to pay their respects & comfort victims of the tornado devastation. In typical fashion, @theview chooses to laugh in the face of tragedy. Shameful. https://t.co/KzG2c4Th4a
— Stephanie Grisham (@StephGrisham45) March 11, 2019
"People died, people lost family and people are hurting in Alabama," Grisham added in her statement. "I watched the President and First Lady hug, listen to and comfort people who had lost everything. The ladies of The View really should consider devoting that air time to helping people."
"Some people think the first lady is using an impostor to stand in for her," co-host Joy Behar said during the segment. "You mean there are two women who have to pretend they're listening to (President Trump)?"
"When there's a rumor like this, and memes all over the place, I think it catches on because there's an element of truth to the idea that she doesn't want to spend time with him," Behar added.
Co-host Ana Navarro said that "political reality is so absurd, you would almost believe anything. I think this is crazy and it's absurd, but it's also funny."
However, co-host Abby Huntsman did object to the segment at one point saying, “I think Melania’s a beautiful woman,” and that she didn’t like spending time on the topic.
“She’s beautiful and we’re doing this in jest,” Navarro replied, also pointing out that people had criticized former First Lady Michelle Obama in a similar way.
“But does that make it better?” Huntsman asked. When Navarro said she thought it did, Huntsman said “I don’t think so.”
This is not the first time Grisham has called out "The View" over their commentary on the first lady. Grisham condemned a "disgusting" comment made on the show in October that Melania was one of Trump's "mistresses."