Joy Behar Apologizes for Making Gay NFL Player the Butt of the Joke 

Las Vegas Raider defensive end Carl Nassib announced to the world he was gay on Monday (the first active NFL player signed to a team to do so). The following day, The View's Joy Behar reduced his momentous announcement to an anal sex joke. She tried to walk back the comments a short time later, asking viewers to pretend she had never uttered the offensive remark. She later issued a full-on apology.

"After they said 'penetration in the end zone' they lose me," the Behar said on air, attempting to make a middle school attempt at locker room humor.

The remarks were greeted by several moments of awkward silence from her fellow hosts. Megan McCain was leaden-faced while Ana Navarro placed her fingers in her ears. Behar appeared to realize the gravity of her situation almost immediately, and tried to walk back her words before the next commercial break.

"I just long for the day when you can just be gay in the world, and it doesn't become a big deal," Behar said. "By the way, that inappropriate joke I made for daytime television? Scratch it. Make believe I never said it."

"Yikes!" tweeted Daily Beast editor Justin Baragona, in response to on-air debacle.

Behar made the joke in response to an observation from Navarro, who first heralded the historic significance of Nassib's announcement before effortlessly segueing to an observation of the defensive end's good looks and her own skills as a matchmaker for out gay football players.

"He's cute too," Navarro opined. "I, like, want to set him up,

Nassib made the historic announcement he was gay in a post to Instagram Monday and quickly donated $100,000 to The Trevor Project, an advocacy and support for LGBTQ+ youth at risk of death by suicide. On Tuesday, the NFL matched Nassib's donation and provided a link for fans to make their own donation to the lifesaving LGBTQ+ organization.

"The NFL is supporting Raiders DE Carl Nassib by matching his donation with a $100,000 contribution to the Trevor Project, the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth," the league announced earlier today. "The NFL is committed to year-long efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion. We proudly support the LGBTQ+ community and will continue to work alongside the Trevor Project and our other community partners to further enhance our collective work and commitment to this space."

Nassib has not commented on Behar's remarks.