Joy Behar personally called Mike Pence to apologize for mocking his faith

Joy Behar appears in a screen capture of a video from Real Time with Bill Maher. | YouTube/Real Time with Bill Maher

Joy Behar of ABC News' "The View" has personally called Vice President Mike Pence to apologize for her recent comments comparing his faith to a "mental illness."

Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, which owns ABC, has reportedly told shareholders during Walt Disney Co.'s annual meeting in Houston, Texas on Thursday that Behar had personally apologized to the vice president.

"Joy Behar apologized to Vice President Pence directly. She made a call to him and apologized, which I thought was absolutely appropriate. I happen to take exception with what she said. I don't think it was right, and I was glad to hear that she apologized," Iger said, according to CBN News.

Behar's phone call to Pence had reportedly taken place late Thursday, during which she apologized for her remarks on her daytime talk show last month.

Bill Stankey, Behar's spokesperson, had claimed that the vice president had acknowledged that Behar's comments were some sort of "miscommunication."

However, an email from a White House source stated that Behar "in no way suggested her comment was a 'miscommunication,'" even though the vice president had accepted the apology.

The source noted that Pence was not offended by Behar's comment for his own sake but "on behalf of the millions of evangelicals who watch ABC and her show."

Behar made her remarks about Pence's faith during the Feb. 13 episode of the daytime talk show, in which the hosts discussed the criticisms made by former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman against the vice president.

During the discussion, the talk show featured a segment of the reality TV show "Celebrity Big Brother" in which Newman said that Pence was "scary" and that "he thinks Jesus tells him to say things."

At one point, Behar remarked: "It's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called mental illness if I'm not correct."

The next day, Pence criticized ABC for broadcasting a talk show that compared Christianity to a mental illness. The vice president went on to say that he could not let Behar's remarks slide because it was not an insult to him, but to the vast majority of Americans who cherish their faith.

Behar later claimed that she was only joking about her remarks and had reportedly stated that she does not believe all Christians are mentally ill.

Her comments had also prompted the conservative Media Research Center (MRC) to launch a campaign to hold the hosts of the talk show accountable for spewing "anti-Christian" bigotry, while ABC has been flooded with over 30,000 phone calls demanding that Behar apologize.