Whoopi Goldberg and her co-stars on The View sparked a debate while discussing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's car incident which took place earlier in the week during the royal couple's visit to New York.
The panel were weighing in on the news story and referring to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's statement via their spokesperson which said the couple had been involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" after being pursued by paparazzi.
Whoopi began by explaining the situation, telling viewers: "Their spokesperson called it a near-catastrophic car chase, others said it wasn't bad. But I think people in New York know that if it was possible to have car chases we'd all make it to the theater on time."
The Ghost actress continued: "I think their spokesperson referenced something that you generally reference in Los Angeles. That's where you can have chases, that's where you can move at high speeds, I think they were dealing with aggressive paparazzi, but I don't think it was, you know, where you watch it on TV with the cars, because it just doesn't work in New York."
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Sunny Hostin weighed and was keen to stress how the feelings of the royal couple need to be respected: "The spokesperson said 'near-catastrophic car chase', but no one ever claimed it was a 'high-speed car chase'. I don't think we should assign feelings to them, if they felt scared then I will grant them that. And I think that when you look at a situation like this, his mother died from a car chase. I wouldn't want to be in a situation where e-bikes and sedans were following me aggressively."
Whoopi agreed with the sentiment but interjected: "But when someone puts a word on something like 'chase', that is something that you can't do here [in New York]. Part of the problem is that there are nine thousand different stories."
Sara Haines also shared her thoughts, stating: "I think the terms they chose were misleading so in addition to chase, what they meant by 'catastrophic' is not to them, possibly, but to the paparazzi. And I think when you word it that way it does feed trolls. Regardless, they were scared but I think it was misrepresented in the language, but I do also think there's got to be better regulation on paparazzi. They get really dangerous.
"I can't speak from person experience, but I've been around people that have been chased and been there and you find yourself thinking 'Where's the humanity?'" Alyssa Farrah Griffin also gave her thoughts, calling the situation a "failure" on both a PR and planning level, adding that "no one" deserves to be harassed.
Viewers watching the ABC talk show were quick to share their reactions to the debate. One person wrote on social media: "Alyssa makes such good points & summarizes everything well." A second was quick to defend Harry and Meghan, writing: "Chase doesn't always refer to high speed or fast, it actually means to pursue to attempt to catch up with someone and collisions happen in NYC even with heavy traffic." A third, meanwhile, wrote: "Whoopi's comments were wise, as she knows from experience. Great advice to any celebrity visiting NYC."
The couple's statement, released on Wednesday, read in part: "Last night, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi. This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers."
The NYPD's statement read: "The NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard."
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