Nurses Defend Miss America Contestant After 'The View' Hosts Joke About Her Performance

Miss Colorado Kelly Johnson was ridiculed by 'The View' for her nursing monologue during the pageant.

The View is receiving huge backlash after the show’s hosts joked about a Miss America contestant, who is a nurse, for her performance at this weekend's pageant.

While other contestants used the pageant's talent section for singing and dancing, Miss Colorado Kelly Johnson wore hospital scrubs and a stethoscope around her neck, and opened up about her profession.

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Johnson spoke movingly about an elderly gentleman with Alzheimer's whom she cared for.

“Every nurse has a patient that reminds them why they became a nurse in the first place. Mine was Joe,” she said.

“I found him in his room crying and I lifted his head up out of his hands and I said, ‘Joe, I know that this is really hard, but you are not just Alzheimer’s. You are still Joe.’”

Her performance got rave reviews from many viewers. "Go Miss Colorado! This nurse loves you!" one tweeted.

But on The View, nurse Johnson got some unkind treatment.

“She came out in a nurse’s uniform and basically read her emails out loud,” said co-host Michelle Collins.

“Why did she have a doctor's stethoscope around her neck?” asked co-host Joy Behar. 

Now furious nurses are hitting back. "Ever wonder what 3 million pissed-off nurses look like?" read one tweet.

Read: Miss America Hopefuls Reveal Love of Cheeseburgers While Touring New York City

And "Nurses Unite" was the top trending topic on Facebook.

Nurses everywhere are posting photos with their stethoscopes to show how upset they are.

Nurse Laura Scarbrough told IE: “I was kind of angry. I feel that they were very dismissive.”

On The View Wednesday, co-hosts Collins and Behar softened their remarks.

“People were very upset with what we said. For all of us, I'm going to say, we love nurses, we adore you, we respect you,” said Collins.

Behar added: “I'm thinking, 'Is she in a costume?' I didn't know she was a nurse. I’m used to seeing them in gowns and bathingsuits.”

One of the guests on the show, comedian Nicole Arbour, told IE there was behind-the-scenes drama involving Collins.

She said: “Backstage she said, ‘I have to apologize because I’m getting all these tweets.'”

But a spokesperson for The View disputed this, telling IE: "From the moment the show started Michelle was on the set the entire time and never backstage with Nicole."

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