Miss America 2016 Update: Pageant CEO ‘Hurt’ With ‘The View’ Hosts ‘Nurse Joke Against Miss Colorado
Miss America 2016 CEO Sam Haskell III aired a public statement sympathizing with Miss Colorado contestant, Kelley Johnson whose nurse monologue in the talent competition was mocked by The View hosts, Joy Behar and Michelle Collins.
"My mother was a nurse. It hurt all nurses to hear Michelle [Collins] and Joy criticize the talent choice of Kelley Johnson, Miss Colorado! Kelley used the talent portion of the Miss America competition to share her passion about a special story experienced through her job," the CEO told People.
Behar and Collins are said to have made offhand comments about Johnson's talent on Sunday who appeared as a nurse wearing a violet suit with a stethoscope on stage where she then delivered her monologue, Fox News reported.
A day after the airing of the talent portion, the hosts make fun about it in "The View" with Behar initiating the joke saying, Why does she have a doctor's stethoscope on her neck?"
Collins took Behar's joke and responded, "She basically read her emails out loud and surprisingly did not win." She then jabbed, "She (Johnson) treats patients with Alzheimer's, which is not funny, but you have to Google it (her performance)."
The hosts' mockery then produced an immediate negative feedback with two advertisers, Johnson & Johnsons and Eggland pulling out from the show and airing their dissatisfaction on Facebook.
The hosts' comments were also attacked by the National Nurses United, a prominent union for nurses in the US as they initiated a campaign in social media with the hashtag #NursesUnite.
We needed to let them know it's a very serious thing, it's not just a flippant 28 seconds of conversation, it's a big deal and it affects how people view our profession," Jean Ross, co-president of the organization said as mentioned in New York Daily News.
