“The View” co-hosts called out Nikki Haley for making “hypocritical” and “ageist” remarks about her presidential rivals — and defended ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon for saying last year that the 52-year-old White House hopeful was “past her prime.”
During Thursday’s episode of the daytime talk show, “The View” host Sunny Hostin pointed to Haley’s campaign tactics, including when she said in New Hampshire on Saturday: “My parents are up in age, and I love them. But when you see them hit a certain age, there is a decline. That’s a fact.”
“She’s talking about her own parents,” Hostin fumed. “Then she says, you know, she starts attacking Joe Biden and Donald Trump on their age.”
“She’s an ageist, yet she was offended when someone talked about her age. Hypocrite!” Hostin said, referring to when “she went off because Don Lemon said that she was older, that she was past her prime.”
Lemon was ousted from his post on “CNN This Morning” last year after bouts of “diva” behavior that included an ugly off-camera spat with his co-host Kaitlan Collins, and controversial on-air statements, including when he suggested that the US men’s soccer team should get paid more than the women’s team.
In February 2023, Lemon infamously described then-51-year-old Haley as not “in her prime.”
“A woman is considered to be in their prime in [their] 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” he said, even doubling down on the sentiment and telling viewers to “Google when is a woman in her prime, it’ll say 20s, 30s and 40s.”
Lemon was unceremoniously fired from the network by the end of April 2023 with a reported $25 million payout.
Though Lemon swiftly apologized for the remarks, Haley lashed out on X, calling Lemon, 57, a “sexist middle-aged CNN anchor.”
“The View” co-host Joy Behar also said she has “to defend Don Lemon a little bit because I don’t think he meant to say a woman is over the hill.”
“A woman is perceived as over the hill [in her 50s,” Behar added.
Fellow host Sara Haines agreed, noting that the world perceives 50-year-old men “as you’ve crossed over,” but at “80, those men are still kickin’ it.”
Lemon’s spokesperson, Allison Gollust, told The Post: “Don fundamentally believes that ageism, like any other blanket bias, is wrong, and has been a proponent of women of all ages throughout his career at every level. The hypocrisy of Nikki Haley’s comments, after attacking Don solely in an effort to raise campaign funds, speaks for itself.”
In the walk-up to the 2024 presidential election, candidates’ ages have been a topic of conversation.
Just last month, 81-year-old Biden was warned by his top aides and his wife Jill to rest more and be more mindful of his health this year, despite the commander-in-chief’s reported insistence that he “feels so much younger” than his age.
The report came on the heels of surveys from both Republican and Democratic voters who expressed concern that Biden, who would be 86 years old at the end of a prospective second term, lacks the mental fitness to perform the job.
Biden — who has served in Washington for half a century — has tried to let the American public know he is aware of their concerns about him remaining in the Oval Office, often by joking about his advanced age.
During a turkey-pardoning ceremony at the White House on Nov. 20, the president quipped that it was “difficult turning 60,” before sharing a widely mocked birthday photo of a cake full of burning candles.
“Turns out on your 146th birthday, you run out of space for candles!” the post on the president’s Instagram account read.
Meanwhile, the clumsy US President has also stumbled several times bounding up the steps of the presidential aircraft, and his team has employed a physical therapist to help improve his balance and avoid a potentially disastrous fall.
