Bestselling author John Grisham sparked controversy during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” when he seemingly fantasized about writing a follow-up to his 1992 novel “The Pelican Brief,” in which he would once again depict the assassination of Supreme Court justices. The comment came nearly two years after a far-left extremist attempted to assassinate conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

When co-host Joy Behar asked Grisham about his thoughts on the current “scandals plaguing the Supreme Court” and whether he would consider writing a book or making a movie about it, the author responded, “I wrote a great book called ‘The Pelican Brief’ in which two Supreme Court Justices were assassinated, and I thought about doing it again.”

The show’s hosts quickly jumped to Grisham’s defense, with Whoopi Goldberg clarifying that he was talking about “writing part two” and Sunny Hostin emphasizing that it was “all fiction.” Grisham reiterated that it was purely fictional and urged viewers not to “get upset.”

Grisham went on to criticize the Supreme Court, claiming that it had “never looked this bad in [his] lifetime” and suggesting that its credibility began to decline after the 2000 election case, which he described as “five Republicans on the court [choosing] to elect a president.”

The author’s comments drew backlash from some who saw them as irresponsible and potentially inciting violence against the judiciary. The incident also raised concerns about the media’s role in promoting inflammatory rhetoric targeting Supreme Court justices.