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Cathie Wood appeared on television to defend her ARK funds' dismal performance. It didn't go quite as planned.

The Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), Cathie Wood's flagship fund, is down 30% year to date and more volatile than almost any other fund on the market. On CNBC's Halftime Report, Wood jumped at the chance to defend the fund and its deflated price, which is currently $68.80, down from $155 a year ago.

"We've seen a significant decline," Wood said, adding, "We feel innovation is at bargain basement zone." Even though her ETF was underperforming, she emphasized that her companies were still "very inexpensive" and that the current fund loss was temporary. When the call's 40 free minutes were finished, Zoom gave her an extra 10 minutes to complete the interview.

Having Zoom check to see whether she was "running out of time?" Wood, who has been aggressively buying up shares in Zoom and other IT firms that have fallen from their pandemic highs, was unhappy. Zoom, like Wood's other significant tech holdings, Teladoc Health, Roku, and Roblox, is down 20% to 40% year to date as investors worry about rising interest and inflation rates.

However, a significant chunk of the interview was devoted to a personal assault on Cathie Wood, who was named the most excellent stock picker in 2020 by Bloomberg's then-Editor-in-Chief Matthew Winkler after correctly forecasting that Tesla will one day be valued at more than $1 trillion.

Wood bluntly ignored Tuttle Capital Management's Short Innovation ETF (SARK), which tracks the inverse performance of ARKK using swaps contracts for the sole purpose of betting against Cathie Wood's selections. "They're not conducting any research." She explained, "All they're doing is shorting innovation."

Of course, SARK is betting against Cathie Woods, not on innovation. "Well, we stand for invention," Wood responded. The SARK ETF has gained 55 percent since its debut, whereas the ARKK ETF has declined by 42 percent.

Tuttle Capital Management CEO Matthew Tuttle chimed in on the SARK ETF, calling it a "tool" for investors. According to SARK, "to convey a negative view of the market, innovative enterprises, the current rising rate environment, or a [specific] portfolio manager if they wish." "It's un-American not to have options in the marketplace," Tuttle told Insider on Thursday.

In any event, Wood is making progress. Her main concern currently is bearish calls on her ETF. "Our major concern is that our investors convert temporary losses into long-term losses," Wood continued.