Behar Locks Lips With ‘Star Trek’ Actor Mount on ‘The View’

Joy Behar caught her colleagues and studio audience off guard Wednesday when she planted a kiss on actor Anson Mount during a taping of “The View.” The spontaneous moment occurred as Mount approached the hosts’ table following an introduction by Whoopi Goldberg, with Behar leaning in to kiss him on the lips when he greeted her.

The exchange drew immediate reactions from the panel, with co-host Sunny Hostin pointing at the pair while other hosts erupted in laughter. Behar later remarked to Mount, “You know something? I’m old, but I’m not dead,” to which Mount responded, “That’s good, Joy, because I am.”

During a subsequent podcast appearance, Behar explained her impulsive behavior to producer Brian Teta, saying she had been joking about Mount’s name all morning before deciding to kiss him upon his arrival. She revealed that her husband, Steve Janowitz, texted her during the broadcast telling her to “cut that out.” Mount had previously visited the show bearing flowers for Behar’s birthday.

The segment also featured Mount discussing his role in the “Star Trek” series “Strange New Worlds,” reflecting on his unlikely journey from White Bluff, Tennessee to commanding a starship. “There’s not a day that’s gone by I haven’t looked around and said to myself, ‘How did I get to be in the captain’s chair?'” he told the hosts.

The Wednesday episode also included debate among the co-hosts regarding Capitol Hill hearings on the Smithsonian Institution. Sunny Hostin argued that Republican efforts targeting the museum represented an attempt to prevent the nation from confronting its history of slavery and paying reparations to Black Americans.

Hostin pointed to truth and reconciliation commissions established for Japanese American internees, Holocaust survivors, and Native Americans, noting the absence of such commissions addressing slavery. She contended that efforts to suppress historical truth prevent meaningful reconciliation and financial repair for African Americans.