‘The View’ audience groans after Sara Haines makes Sean Combs joke

The View cohost Sara Haines drew light ire from the show’s in-studio audience when she made a joke about Sean Combs during Tuesday’s live broadcast.

Amid the rapper’s ongoing criminal trial involving allegations that he engaged in sex trafficking, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, coercion and enticement to engage in prostitution, and more, The View panelists kicked off the episode with a Hot Topics discussion about whether or not President Donald Trump might step in to pardon him.

“The Diddy case is one where we’ve seen some of these celebrity causes where there’s two sides to this. There’s not really two sides to Diddy,” observed conservative panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin, though Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him following his September arrest in Manhattan. “The case is still being worked out, whether he’ll be convicted is very much an open question.”

The 35-year-old then brought up fellow rapper 50 Cent, whom she said had a “bit of a relationship with Trump” after media outlets reported that the entertainer posted a note indicating that he might “reach out” to Trump regarding Combs, per USA Today.

While Griffin said that 50 Cent hasn’t publicly endorsed or perform in support of Trump, she pointed out that “he’s been all on Diddy’s things for years and been calling him out for it” (50 Cent stressed to PEOPLE in October 2024 that he’s been vocal about Combs “for 10 years.”)

Haines waited a few beats before jumping in to joke that “everyone’s been on Diddy’s…” before trailing off, as the studio crowd groaned over the implication.

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for Haines at The View and to a representative for 50 Cent for comment.

Combs’ trial began on May 5, and has involved emotional testimony from his ex-girlfriend, fellow recording artist Cassie Ventura, who took the stand after video circulated of Combs assaulting her inside a hotel — which Combs called “inexcusable” after the clip was first publicized last year.

Sunny Hostin, a longtime View panelist and former federal prosecutor, revealed on the talk show that she gained access to the courtroom near the beginning of the trial, and said she observed a different side of the rapper during the proceedings.

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“Sean Combs is not the person that we used to see out there,” Hostin said on the show, noting that he “looks very much like a defeated mogul” in her estimation.

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.