Following Selena Gomez posting — and shortly thereafter deleting — an emotional video sobbing over the massive ICE raids that are happening around the country this week, conservatives promptly scoffed at the actress and singer. So, on Tuesday morning, “The View” host Sara Haines called them out.
In the now-deleted video, Gomez was distraught, saying, “All my people are getting attacked, the children. I don’t understand. I’m so sorry, I wish I could do something but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.”
After deleting the post, Gomez later posted to her Instagram Story, writing, “Apparently it’s not OK to show empathy for people.” Indeed, conservative figures like Sean Hannity and more mocked Gomez, with one even saying she should check her “privilege.”
Discussing clips of the mockery on the ABC talk show, Haines became frustrated, telling viewers that “two things can be true at once.”
“All of these conservative media pundits answered with, ‘What about the violent criminals?’ Selena Gomez can feel compassion for people being deported, she has a very personal connection to that,” she said, laying out how Gomez’s grandmother was an immigrant.
“But that is natural to then say, ‘God, it’s heartbreaking to watch this.’ It can be heartbreaking, and she can still not be OK with violent criminals,” Haines continued. “And they keep saying in there, ‘We’re taking the violent criminals.’”
The ABC host then reiterated a point she made on Monday, calling for more transparency from the Trump administration on who specifically is being deported.
“If they broke down every person deported and said, ‘We’ve got 16 murderers, 15 rapists, 13 repeat offenders,’ everyone in this country, including Selena Gomez, would say bravo!” Haines argued. “But that’s not what’s happening, and they’re not being open about it. So never condemn someone for showing empathy for another person.”
Haines added that Gomez shouldn’t be expected to address the story of Laken Riley, whose tragic murder became the namesake for the first bill of Trump’s second administration, just because she’s addressing the plights of others.
“It’s not saying that she agrees with that to say she understands the plight of all of these people,” Haines said. “So it’s just a disgusting place we’re at when we can’t even recognize that.”
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
