Tim Scott says he will appear on The View on Monday after slamming Joy Behar

• South Carolina’s Tim Scott, 57, announced he will appear on The View Monday
• He made the announcement at a gathering of Republicans in Des Moines, Iowa  

Senator Tim Scott announced Saturday that he will be appearing on ‘The View’ on Monday, after speaking out against Joy Behar’s claim that he doesn’t understand racism.

The African-American 2024 hopeful said he wanted the chance to respond to the claims.

And it offers him a huge national stage to present himself as a different type of Republican candidate. 

But he may miss out on the chance to go head to head with Behar as Monday is generally her day off. 

‘I’m going on a view on Monday because I think it’s time for a conservative with a backbone to look those ladies in the eyes and say you do not have to be an exception to succeed in America,’ he told an audience of Republicans in Des Moines, Iowa. 

‘You can be the rule and succeed in America. You see, I scare the dickens out of the radical left and Joe Biden. Proof of my life destroys their lies.’

He remains an outsider in the race for the Republican nomination. But he has used his life story — enduring a tough childhood and broken home before finding his way in business and then politics — to offer an optimistic vision of the American Dream.

The bitter dispute began last week when Behar, 80, suggested that successful black Americans who had become Republicans did somehow not understand racism.

‘He’s one of these guys, like Clarence Thomas, black Republican, who believes in pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, rather than understanding the systemic racism that African Americans face in this country and other minorities,’ she said of Scott.

‘He doesn’t get it. Neither does Clarence. That’s why they’re Republicans.’

She spoke hours after Scott announced his White House run, and he was quick to condemn the comments last week. 

South Carolina’s Scott, 57, said her words were the ‘dumbest, most offensive thing he’s ever heard on TV’. Behar’s comments came hours after Scott announced his intent to run for president.

He also used Twitter to make the point that the Left simply did not understand black Republicans. 

‘When a Black conservative who believes in the future of this nation stands up to be counted, they lose their minds,’ he wrote.

He followed it up with comments on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – and referenced the longtime daytime fixture’s blackface scandal that grabbed headlines just a few years ago.

‘There’s no doubt a white lady dressing up in black face giving a black man advice probably doesn’t ring true in anyone’s minds, certainly not my own,’ said Scott of Behar’s claims that he does not understand racism because he is a Republican.

‘More importantly, I find it offensive and disgusting and dangerous’.

The rookie senator who was elected to office this past November, first panned Behar for displaying a 1970s-era photo of herself dressed as a ‘beautiful African woman’ back in 2016, then pointed out partisan hypocrisies he said paved the way for such comments.

‘I’m used to having the left attack me because of the truth of my life,’ Scott explained to pollical commentators Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. ‘This proves their lies.’

The former junior South Carolina senator continued: ‘I say that because of this – when I help write the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act [of 2017], they called me a prop.

‘When I started talking about refunding the police, they called me a token.

‘When I pushed back on President Biden’s most malign agenda, they called me the “n-word”.

‘I’m used to it,’ he declared. ‘Here’s what’s dangerous and offensive to me, for every young child in America wanting to think for themselves, draw their own conclusions.

‘What they’re saying to them is, “stay in your lane, do not stick your head out because we’re going to tell you how to think because you never learned anything about what you should think.”‘

He added: ‘It is literally the dumbest, most offensive thing I’ve ever witnessed on TV’ – to hear these millionaire TV personalities telling me how to live my life.

‘As a Black man, but more importantly, suggesting to every child, stay in your place, follow my lead or you, too, will reap the same harvest as Tim Scott or Clarence Thomas – or any other conservative who dares to think for themselves.’

The mention of Thomas, the conservative, African-American jurist who serves as the senior associate justice of the US Supreme Court, also came in reference to comments made by Behar last Tuesday – in which she likened the two black lawmen to each other while claiming they both don’t understand systemic racism.

‘He’s one of these guys, like Clarence Thomas, black Republican, who believes in pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, rather than understanding the systemic racism that African Americans face in this country and other minorities,’ she said of Scott.

‘He doesn’t get it. Neither does Clarence. That’s why they’re Republicans.’

The comment quickly proved divisive on social media, spurring several political commentators to weigh in and criticize Behar for her behavior.

Taking part in this backlash was Scott, who fanned the flames of outrage by touting himself as the candidate the ‘radical left fears the most,’ echoing statements delivered in Charleston last week during his 2024 campaign announcement.

Behar, meanwhile, has yet to respond to Scott’s callout – which referenced a 2016 episode of The View in which the show’s most senior staffer admitted to dressing up as, in her own words, ‘a beautiful African woman’. 

Behar had been discussing a New York Times op-ed praising naturally curly hair, before showing viewers a photo of herself at a Halloween party, aged 29, with tan skin and short, dark, curly hair. 

Former host Raven-Symoné asked Behar if that was her, asking ‘are you black?’

Behar said that she had dressed up as an African woman, but said ‘I only had makeup that was a little bit darker than my skin. That’s my actual hair, though.’