Elon Musk has called for a boycott of The View, calling it a “meeting place for stupid women.” The entire cast has since responded in outrage.

Elon Musk Calls for Boy­cott of The View, Labels It a “Meet­ing Place for Stu­pid Women”; Cast Responds in Out­rage

In a fiery exchange that has sparked wide­spread con­tro­ver­sy, bil­lion­aire entre­pre­neur Elon Musk has called for a boy­cott of The View, label­ing the pop­u­lar talk show a “meet­ing place for stu­pid women.” His inflam­ma­to­ry com­ment, post­ed on social media, has led to an out­pour­ing of out­rage from the show’s co-hosts and fans alike.

Musk, known for his can­did and often provoca­tive remarks, took to Twit­ter to voice his dis­ap­proval of the day­time talk show, which fea­tures a rotat­ing pan­el of female hosts dis­cussing cur­rent events, pol­i­tics, and social issues. In a tweet that quick­ly went viral, Musk crit­i­cized The View for what he per­ceived as biased dis­cus­sions and unsub­stan­ti­at­ed opin­ions, ulti­mate­ly call­ing for its boy­cott. The billionaire’s post read: “The View is noth­ing but a meet­ing place for stu­pid women. Time to boy­cott.”

The Outrage from The View Cast

The com­ment imme­di­ate­ly ignit­ed a firestorm of reac­tions, with mul­ti­ple co-hosts of The View respond­ing with anger and dis­be­lief. Whoopi Gold­berg, one of the show’s longest-serv­ing hosts, was among the first to address Musk’s com­ments on air. Speak­ing can­did­ly, she said, “I’ve had enough of peo­ple think­ing they can belit­tle oth­ers just because they don’t agree with them. What Musk said was not only rude, but it was dis­mis­sive of intel­li­gent women every­where.”

Oth­er hosts, includ­ing Joy Behar and Sun­ny Hostin, also expressed their out­rage dur­ing the show’s live broad­cast. Behar, known for her sharp wit and no-holds-barred com­men­tary, did not hold back in her response. “Elon Musk, with all his wealth and priv­i­lege, should know bet­ter than to belit­tle the women on this show or any women for that mat­ter,” Behar said. “We don’t need his approval or val­i­da­tion. We’re capa­ble of hav­ing intel­li­gent con­ver­sa­tions, whether or not he agrees with them.”

Sun­ny Hostin, who has often brought legal and polit­i­cal insight to the table, took a more mea­sured approach, but her frus­tra­tion was evi­dent. “It’s unfor­tu­nate that peo­ple like Musk con­tin­ue to use their plat­form to per­pet­u­ate tox­ic rhetoric. The View has always been a space for diverse per­spec­tives, and we will not be silenced by such attacks.”

A Backlash on Social Media

Musk’s com­ments have caused a major divide on social media, with his sup­port­ers ral­ly­ing behind him, while many oth­ers have con­demned his remarks as misog­y­nis­tic and dis­re­spect­ful. Some of Musk’s fol­low­ers applaud­ed his stance, claim­ing that The View rep­re­sents the kind of biased media that is harm­ful to pub­lic dis­course. How­ev­er, many oth­ers, includ­ing promi­nent fem­i­nists and women’s rights groups, have tak­en to social media to voice their dis­ap­point­ment.

“I’ve been a sup­port­er of Elon Musk for years, but this is the moment where I have to draw the line,” one Twit­ter user wrote. “To call women ‘stu­pid’ sim­ply for hav­ing dif­fer­ent opin­ions is not only arro­gant, it’s also dan­ger­ous.”

Anoth­er social media user tweet­ed: “Elon Musk thinks he can can­cel The View, but what he’s real­ly doing is expos­ing his own igno­rance. Women, espe­cial­ly those on The View, have always been at the fore­front of con­ver­sa­tions that chal­lenge the sta­tus quo. His com­ments are beneath him.”

Musk’s History of Controversial Statements

This lat­est con­tro­ver­sy is not the first time Musk has found him­self at the cen­ter of a heat­ed debate. Over the years, the CEO of Tes­la and SpaceX has made numer­ous provoca­tive state­ments that have sparked back­lash. From down­play­ing the sever­i­ty of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic to pub­licly feud­ing with jour­nal­ists, Musk has often used social media to express his unfil­tered opin­ions, draw­ing both admi­ra­tion and crit­i­cism in equal mea­sure.

Musk’s crit­i­cism of The View, how­ev­er, has raised con­cerns about his influ­ence on pub­lic dis­course, par­tic­u­lar­ly con­sid­er­ing his plat­form as one of the world’s wealth­i­est and most influ­en­tial fig­ures. His com­ments have been described as an attempt to under­mine women’s voic­es in the media, par­tic­u­lar­ly those who do not align with his views.

The View’s Legacy and Response

The View, which has been on the air since 1997, has long been a plat­form where women from var­i­ous back­grounds and polit­i­cal per­spec­tives engage in mean­ing­ful dis­cus­sions. Despite fac­ing crit­i­cism through­out its run, the show has main­tained its rel­e­vance and con­tin­ued to attract mil­lions of view­ers. Its co-hosts have often used the plat­form to chal­lenge soci­etal norms, fight for women’s rights, and offer dif­fer­ing opin­ions on press­ing issues.

In a state­ment released by the net­work, The View pro­duc­ers made it clear that they would not be intim­i­dat­ed by Musk’s remarks. “The View has always pro­vid­ed a plat­form for women to speak their minds, and we will con­tin­ue to do so. We wel­come debate and dif­fer­ing view­points, but we do not con­done attacks on the intel­li­gence or dig­ni­ty of our hosts.”

What’s Next?

As the debate con­tin­ues to unfold, many are won­der­ing how Musk’s call for a boy­cott of The View will impact the show’s view­er­ship and Musk’s pub­lic image. Will the boy­cott gain trac­tion, or will it back­fire and only serve to bol­ster the show’s cred­i­bil­i­ty and pop­u­lar­i­ty?

The con­tro­ver­sy is far from over, and it’s clear that this lat­est exchange will have last­ing reper­cus­sions. Whether Musk’s com­ments will prompt a larg­er con­ver­sa­tion about misog­y­ny in the media or sim­ply fade into the noise of social media remains to be seen, but one thing is for cer­tain: The View and its hosts have made their stance known, and they won’t back down from defend­ing their right to express their opin­ions.