Kim Kardashian Isn’t Raquel Welch, Says ‘The View’ Audience

The View audience made one thing clear this week: Kim Kardashian is no Raquel Welch.

During Thursday’s episode of the ABC show, Whoopi Goldberg opened a segment by honoring Welch, who died the previous day at the age of 82 after a short illness.

“We were so heartbroken to hear of the passing of one of the world’s most enduring sex symbols, the fabulous Raquel Welch,” Goldberg said as photos of the actor flashed onto a screen, including a shot from the 1966 film One Million Years BC,” where she poses in her iconic fur bikini.

“You know, they don’t do sex symbols like that,” chipped in co-host Joy Behar.

“I don’t know of any gift,” she said when co-host Sonny Hostin interjected.

“Well, Kim Kardashian is kind of a sex symbol.”

The crowd and other panelists immediately erupted in boos, jeers, and shouts of “no.”

“Kardashians? No, no,” Behar said amid the litany of boos.

Hostin reacted in surprise at the reaction, clutching her beads with her jaw dropped toward the audience’s uproar.

Goldberg stammered, “That’s not even… You can’t even put them in the same… I’m not even… Look, I’m moving on.”

Welch was well aware of her status as a sex symbol and cinematic eye candy early in her career.

Some of the roles she was cast in were “so painfully uncomfortable and in a way humiliating,” Welch told The Times in 2010.

But she also used her status to advance her career and further her ambitions to be taken seriously as an actress, snagging roles in award-winning films and both comedic and dramatic roles.

“Being a sex symbol was a huge responsibility and a constant struggle,” she told The Times in 1986. “It bothered me at first, but now I know you can have that and be respected too. You can have both.”

Welch, née Jo Raquel Tejada, and her contributions were remembered by The View’s co-host Ana Navarro, who tipped off the audience with quite a bit of knowledge before quickly moving on to the next segment.

“I was really frustrated yesterday with every mention I saw on the news about Raquel Welch, nobody mentioned that she’s Latino,” she said to cheers from the audience. “She was a breakthrough Latino actress from Bolivia – her father was Bolivian.”