Star Jones defends Mariah's blackness on "The View"
 | | Sandra Bernhard | Star Jones Reynolds had to bite her tongue to keep from cursing out comedian Sandra Bernhard on "The View" Friday morning. Bernhard has made jokes in the past about biracial singer Mariah Carey appearing to cash in on her blackness only when her more mainstream pop material became passé. Star, reading from the pre-interview notes on her blue cards, asked Bernhard to explain why she is now claiming responsibility for the success of Carey's album, "The Emancipation of Mimi".
Bernhard said it was her jokes eight years ago about Carey "being black only when it's convenient" that led to the singer's nervous breakdown, which eventually resulted in this current emancipation. Trying to remain calm, Star hit Bernhard with a "girl please" and said Carey has always been open about being black. Bernhard joked to the audience that Star was about to go off on her. Star smiled and said, "I look too cute today to be going off on you," then rolled her eyes back toward co-host Barbara Walters to continue on.
Walters said that Carey spoke openly about her African American father during their interview eight years ago. Bernhard finally gave up on the whole thing, shouting, "It's a joke," and telling Star she didn't set up the story right." Then things really got bad. At the end of the segment, the subject of First Lady Laura Bush came up.
"I think she's heavily medicated," Bernhard said, prompting co-host and uber-Republican Elizabeth Hasslebeck to go off. Hasslebeck, a former "Survivor" contestant, tried to throw Laura Bush's childhood education record in the comedian's face, but Bernhard brushed it off by stating her husband is cutting education "to smithereens". In the midst of their back-and-forth bickering, Bernhard called Hasslebeck "honey".
"First of all... honey yourself!" Hasslebeck fired back, before trying to list Mrs. Bush's resume. Bernhard rolled her neck in shock and was gearing up for a Bush debate when co-host Joy Behar, the resident comedian of the group, stood up from her seat between the two ladies and said, "I have to go." As Joy headed off stage, Hasslebeck continued yapping her Bush statistics, Bernhard kept trying to refute them, the audience was all riled up, Star and Barbara were trying to talk over them to throw to a commercial and Joy had returned to the stage to scream, "I just want peace in the world!" (Eurweb)
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