ABC Talk Show Host Apologizes for Quran Remark
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Following complaints from Muslim viewers, a host of ABC’s “The View” talk show has apologized for a remark she made about the Quran, Islam’s revealed text.
On Wednesday’s episode of “The View,” host Joy Behar said in a discussion of who airline passengers should sit next to on a plane: “You want somebody who’s calm, you don’t want somebody who’s reading the Quran as you’re going down.”
Behar’s apology came one day after the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued an alert urging viewers to e-mail ABC’s Audience Relations Department and express their concerns about the insensitive nature of the remarks. CAIR issued the alert after receiving complaints from Muslims who watched Wednesday’s program.
In her apology, Behar stated: “Yesterday I said something on the air and I received all these letters from people. I really did not mean to offend any religion yesterday. I was talking about being on a plane and how if someone is reading a Holy Book I get scared because it looks like they know something. I mentioned one particular religion, it could have been any person, any prayer book and I upset people and I’m sorry about that. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to any religion.”
“We thank all those viewers who took the time to express their concerns to ABC, and we also thank Ms. Behar for her swift and sincere apology,” said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.
CAIR, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 29 regional offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada.
(Posted on November 2, 2004)