Joy Behar Comments On 'Stupidity' Of Missing Submarine On 'The View'

The missing submarine has captivated many headlines over the past few days, so it's no surprise that Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, and the rest of "The View" panel all weighed in with their opinion.

The fate of five individuals remains uncertain after an OceanGate Expeditions submersible went missing in the Atlantic Ocean to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, which sank in 2012.

During the Hot Topics conversation, the 80-year-old panelist compared the "human incompetence and stupidity" of the 1912 Titanic sinking to the 2023 missing submarine.

"It's interesting because the Titanic itself went down because of human incompetence and stupidity on the part of, according to the movies, hubris, and the same with this," Behar said in comments transcribed by Entertainment Weekly. "That's the irony of it. They're going to see the same thing is happening to them. It's very sad and scary."

Conservative panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin discussed the design of the submersible and revealed that passengers might have paid upwards of $250,000 for a chance to view the wreckage of the famous shipwreck.

"We need hope. I'm praying for a miracle, because I think we're in a window now where there's about 30 hours of oxygen left in this submersible. I'm fascinated by this story because, while I can't personally relate to wanting to do extreme adventures, my husband is very much like this," the 34-year-old said.

"There's something about the human spirit that wants to explore the unknown, but the problem here is this company was cutting corners left and right. This was basically a stitched-together — they were using a Game Boy console to guide this thing at the depths of the ocean," she continued. "I hope — I know these folks signed a lot of paperwork — but I hope, however this ends up, there's a massive lawsuit, because they put tons of lives at risk."

However, legal expert Sunny Hostin shut down the idea that the company would face major lawsuits as a result of this scandal. She pointed to a New York Times report that revealed that participants had to sign a waiver that "mentioned death three times on the front page." Hostin ventured that "there won't be much legal repercussion" as a result of the waiver.

At the beginning of the conversation, Whoopi mentioned that the rescue operation had heard "intermittent banging sounds," which made her feel "very hopeful" that the five passengers would be rescued. Later on in the segment, Joy Behar ventured that she didn't understand why the five individuals would take such a big risk with their lives.

"I don't understand physical risks. I've gotten up in front of audiences drunk at two in the morning to do stand-up. That's a risk that I took," Behar said. "But to actually go underwater, they say that this submersible has been certified to withstand the pressure of 1,300 meters of depth, but the Titanic wreckage is 3,800 meters of depth. So, that's a tip-off right there."

Hostin closed the segment with a legal note from OceanGate Expeditions, which stated that "every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely, and [we are] grateful for the urgent and extensive assistance they are receiving from multiple government agencies."

According to BBC News, the missing submarine is likely now out of oxygen. The submersible reportedly had 96 hours of oxygen when it left on Sunday morning, which meant that it was likely to run out on Thursday, June 22, around 6 AM ET.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard admiral leading the search told the BBC that they knew that they were running out of time. "One of the factors that makes it hard to predict how much oxygen is left is that we do not know the rate of the consumption of oxygen per occupant on the sub," Rear Admiral John Mauger said at the time.

Mauger went on to say that he and his team had also spoken to the families of the five families about the rescue operation in place to try to bring them home safely.

Just before noon on Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard tweeted, "A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic. Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information."

No other information is available at this time.