Whoopi Goldberg and her fellow cohosts of The View are not cutting a rug over Anna Delvey joining the latest cast of Dancing With the Stars.
On Thursday’s episode of the Emmy-winning talk show, the show’s casting of the convicted con artist served as the hot topic.
Nearly two years after Anna was released from immigration jail and placed on house arrest, the 33-year-old fake heiress — whose real name is Anna Sorokin — was named among the famous faces competing on Season 33 of the long-running dance competition.
“I kind of got talked into doing this,” Anna told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. “I got the permission from [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and then it was kind of too late to back out.”
The Russian-born German citizen, who’s awaiting deportation to Germany, confirmed she’ll continue to wear her ankle monitor while competing on the show.
Whoopi thinks it's not fair to others who have dealt with ICE.
Although some who were fascinated by Anna’s fraud case are excited to watch her compete, Whoopi was not taking the attention-grabbing move lightly.
“I think back to all the families who’ve had family members arrested by ICE, who have gone to the courts to get their dad, or their brother, or their mother back, and this woman, they gave her permission to go do this,” the EGOT winner said.
She also likened Anna’s casting to being a “[f— you] in the face of a lot of people who have been trying to make their way back to this country and families torn apart.”
One cohost wondered if the casting rewarded bad behavior.
Although cohost Sunny Hostin confessed to liking a “come up,” she did question whether Delvey was being rewarded for bad behavior.
“She defrauded so many people and then spent about two years in prison and then had to spend another 18 months in prison for overstaying her welcome and overstaying her visa,” the resident legal mind said. “And what is … the consequence of it? A bejeweled ankle monitor and a spot on a television show.”
Meanwhile, comedian Joy Behar couldn’t resist suggesting that ABC release a spinoff series called Dancing With the Felons.
The new season of Dancing with the Stars premieres September 17 on ABC and Disney+.
-by Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News, (TNS)
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