Whoopi Goldberg and her fellow hosts on “The View” all passionately defended Nicole Scherzinger during the Nov. 11 episode of the ABC daytime talk show. Scherzinger, who’s earning rave reviews and Tony buzz for her performance as Norma Desmond in “Sunset Blvd.” on Broadway, ignited a firestorm of controversy on Nov. 9 when she commented on Russel Brand’s Instagram post, which featured Brand posing with a “Make Jesus First Again” red hat.
“Where do I get this hat?” Scherzinger wrote in a now-deleted comment, alongside a prayer hands emoji and a red heart emoji.
The backlash against Scherzinger was swift on social media, as Brand’s original post was viewed as a pro-Donald Trump message following the U.S. election and thus Scherzinger must be pro-Trump by default. The singer, however, never endorsed a candidate or publicly stated how she voted. As Whoopi Goldberg reminded viewers, the singer has always been a devout Catholic and grew up in conservative Kentucky.
“Emotions are so raw,” Ana Navarro when asked about the online backlash against Scherzinger. “It’s overkill. I think people are loosing 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. Every day I get thousands of people telling me to ‘go eat another burrito and go back to Mexico.’ I ain’t going anywhere.”
Sara Haines said “the mob mentality on social media” is “poisonous and toxic,” adding: “People are calling for her to not be nominated for a Tony. This has gotten out of control.”
Scherzinger issued a statement amid the controversy in which she apologized “for the hurt caused by my recent engagement with some social media posts.” She wrote: “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,” Sherzinger added. “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.”
Navarro said on “The View” that Scherzinger “shouldn’t have apologized” or gave into the backlash as she had nothing to defend herself against. The co-host then playfully asked: “Does this mean I can get tickets now for the show, because it was very sold out.”
“And it’s still going to be very sold out,” Goldberg replied. “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.”
While Scherzinger has not talked about who she voted for in 2024, she did campaign for Barack Obama in 2008. She also revealed she is pro-life in a previous interview with The Daily Mail.