The View co-host Joy Behar grabbed actor Anson Mount and kissed him on the mouth during a live taping, a moment that went viral and drew sharp criticism from viewers who called it a clear boundary violation.
Mount, 53, best known for playing Captain Christopher Pike on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, walked out from backstage on Wednesday's episode to greet the panelists. He kissed Behar on the cheek. She puckered her lips. Mount leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. Then Behar reached around his side with her left arm and appeared to pull him in for a longer kiss.
The 83-year-old co-host is married to Steve Janowitz. Mount has been married to photographer Darah Trang since 2018. They have two young daughters, Clover, 4, and Violet, 1.
Co-host Sunny Hostin handed Mount a tissue to wipe off Behar's lipstick and quipped, "No wonder Joy has been talking about you all morning." Whoopi Goldberg turned to Behar and asked, "Are you okay?"
Behar was unapologetic. "I'm old, but I'm not dead," she told the panel. Mount played along: "That's it, Joy, because I am." When Goldberg pressed, Behar said she needed "a little bit of a touch-up."
She then offered a backstory. "Last time he was here, he brought me flowers for my birthday, and it's never been the same between us," Behar said. Mount noted that his last appearance on the show was roughly 13 years ago. "Well, I got married," he added. Behar's reply: "That's what I mean!"
Behar later addressed the moment on the show's companion podcast, Behind the Table. She told listeners she "just felt like kissing him" when Mount came out. Her husband, Janowitz, texted her during the broadcast with a two-word directive: "Cut that out."
Behar's willingness to step away from The View for personal pursuits is nothing new, but planting a kiss on a married guest on live television is a different category of impulsiveness.
After the clip went viral, Mount gave a follow-up interview to TV Insider. He said he had asked his wife to promise she would not divorce him over the moment.
"I asked my wife to promise me she wouldn't divorce me. She thought it was hilarious."
Mount attributed the viral spread partly to his lower public profile in recent years. "I think people just assume that I'm not around anymore because I have two young kids," he said. "I think maybe they were surprised to see that I'm still alive."
He acknowledged the earlier appearance that started the running joke. "I brought her flowers for her birthday, and I guess I made an impression," Mount told TV Insider. "So, we'll see what she does the next time."
The clip circulated widely on TikTok, where commenters did not share Behar's casual attitude. "He's married. She crossed the line," one wrote. Another observed: "He plays it off well but I think she crossed a line."
The sharpest criticism cut to a double standard. "What would the view think if a man did that to a woman?" one commenter asked, a question that none of the panelists addressed on air.
The question is not complicated. If a 83-year-old male host had grabbed a 53-year-old married female guest and pulled her in for a kiss on live television, the conversation would not have been about lipstick and tissues. It would have been about conduct, consent, and consequences. Personal misconduct allegations have ended careers across media and politics, when the person accused does not happen to sit on a panel that sets its own rules about what counts as acceptable behavior.
The View's representatives, along with representatives for Mount and Behar, were contacted for comment. No responses were noted.
The entertainment world has spent years lecturing the public about boundaries, power dynamics, and appropriate workplace conduct. Hollywood's credibility on those subjects does not improve when one of its most prominent daytime hosts treats a married guest's personal space as a punchline, and her colleagues laugh along.
Rules about consent are supposed to apply to everyone. They lose all meaning the moment they become optional for people who happen to hold the microphone.
