Daily Mail columnist Meghan McCain revealed the moment that sealed her decision to leave ABC’s “The View.”
In her new memoir “Bad Republican,” McCain describes the “toxic, direct and purposeful hostility” that was aimed at her as the only conservative on the show, primarily from cohosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar. McCain said that they “grew meaner and less forgiving” throughout former President Donald Trump’s tenure.
McCain, who had her own very public battles with Trump, said she felt as though Goldberg and Behar had begun to view her as “an avatar for everything they hated about the president” and treated her accordingly.
McCain said she and Goldberg had been friendly at the start of her stint on the show, but at a certain point she felt unwelcome. “I have a lot of love and affection for her. She was surprised when I left. She yields an unfathomable amount of power in television, in culture. And it felt at a certain point, she didn’t want me at the table anymore. It started with the ‘Girl, please stop talking!’ incident. I remember when it happened almost crying on the show. I never wanted to upset her. But I also wanted to be truthful about how I felt about politics and my perspective, and sometimes those two things couldn’t co-exist. At a certain point, I made the decision it was more important to be honest than to be liked,” McCain told Variety.
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“It was horrible. To her credit, Whoopi apologized the next morning. I would apologize when I messed up. I fucked up a lot on that show,” McCain added. “I love Whoopi. I felt at a certain point she stopped respecting me, and it was hard.”
But the last straw, McCain said, came on her second day back from maternity leave. She had cracked a joke to Behar, saying, “Joy, you missed me so much when I was on maternity leave. You missed fighting with me.” (RELATED: Former Co-Host Of The View Says She Has ‘PTSD’ Because Of The Show)
“I did not,” Behar shot back. “I did not miss you. Zero.”
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“I felt like I’d been slapped,” McCain said, adding that the exchange triggered a panic attack and ultimately led her to decide once and for all that she’d had enough. She said she asked both the executive producer and Behar’s producer for an apology from Behar, but it never happened.
In addition to ruling out ever returning to the show, McCain said she doesn’t even watch it since her exit. “It would be like looking at an ex-boyfriend’s Instagram. What’s the point?” she asked.