The White House posted a photo of Joy Behar with her eyes shut and called it “poor health,” and her response on live TV had the entire studio laughing

The White House’s Rapid Response 47 account on X posted a photo of Joy Behar with her eyes closed, captioning it, “Wow! Poor health?” As detailed by Reality Tea, the post quickly drew attention, particularly given that Behar is currently on an extended hiatus from The View.

During the May 27 episode of The View’s Behind the Table podcast, moderator Whoopi Goldberg addressed the White House’s social media activity. Goldberg noted that the administration had been posting screen grabs of reporters with their eyes closed, implying poor health, before adding, “They posted one of you, too, Joy.”

Behar fired back immediately: “They must have been showing one of his clips.” She followed up with, “Just because your lids go down doesn’t mean you’re asleep.” The studio broke into laughter.

The White House has a longer history of going after Behar and The View

This isn’t the first time the administration has taken aim at Behar. In July 2025, the White House slammed her after she said President Trump was “jealous” of former President Barack Obama. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers responded at the time: “Joy Behar is an irrelevant loser suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. It’s no surprise that The View’s ratings hit an all-time low last year. She should self-reflect on her own jealousy of President Trump’s historic popularity before her show is the next to be pulled off the air.”

The friction sits within a broader legal battle between ABC and the Federal Communications Commission. ABC has accused the Trump administration’s media regulator of threatening broadcasters’ First Amendment rights, arguing the agency is moving to “upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech.” The FCC launched an investigation into The View earlier this year over the show’s compliance with the “equal time” rule, which requires stations to provide equal airtime to all legally qualified political candidates.

ABC retained Paul Clement, a prominent conservative attorney and Supreme Court litigator, who signed a legal letter to the FCC arguing the government’s actions pose a broader threat to free speech. Clement wrote that uncertainty around broadcast editorial discretion “threatens to limit news coverage of political candidates and chill core First Amendment-protected speech for years and potentially decades to come.” He also noted that the FCC itself ruled in 2002 that The View qualifies as a “bona fide news interview program,” exempting it from equal time concerns.

The FCC’s current leadership has been questioning whether that exemption still applies to daytime and late-night talk shows critical of President Trump. In February, the agency sent a letter to KTRK, an ABC-owned station in Houston, scrutinizing a Texas Senate candidate’s appearance on The View during the primary. Further demands followed in March. Clement’s letter argued the FCC had overstepped its authority and called on the agency to reaffirm The View’s exemption.

The legal letter was submitted roughly a week after the FCC called in all eight of ABC’s station licenses for early renewal, a move widely viewed as government retaliation. Those licenses were not due for renewal until 2028 at the earliest. The early-renewal order came one day after President Trump reportedly pressed ABC to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, a demand the network declined.

The FCC official framed the license review as part of an ongoing diversity probe into Disney, ABC’s parent company. Disney had already provided over 6,200 pages of documents to the FCC in the fall, followed by an additional 4,839 pages after a five-month silence from the agency. The early-renewal order came just one week after those additional documents were submitted.

A longtime media lawyer, speaking anonymously, said that if the agency had found Disney’s responses insufficient, the standard practice would be to contact the company’s lawyers or issue a formal notice, not file an early-renewal order. License challenges are typically reserved for cases of “egregious, regular misconduct, like fraud.” Clement’s letter called the early-renewal demand “extraordinary” and argued that the FCC’s abrupt policy shifts require action by the full commission and court oversight.

The FCC responded by reaffirming that Congress established the equal time law to “encourage more speech” and “empower voters.” ABC maintains it has been complying with the law but says the current FCC is redefining which programs qualify for exemptions. Daniel Suhr of the Center for American Rights, an advocacy group aligned with the FCC official, stated, “It is not in the public interest for ABC to operate as an arm of the Democratic Party.” The lone Democratic FCC commissioner, Anna Gomez, praised Disney’s pushback, writing on X, “What the public will remember is who complied in advance and who fought back.”

Once ABC files the necessary renewal paperwork, outside parties including right-wing advocacy groups can submit petitions to deny the licenses, potentially targeting shows like The View and Kimmel’s program. The likely outcome is a lengthy administrative proceeding in which Disney will have to defend its broadcasting record.