It’s no secret that Meghan McCain’s The View co-hosts were not her biggest fans. Ever since McCain left the show in August 2021 after a four-year stint on the panel, some of her former co-hosts—and other former View hosts who never even worked with her—have spoken out about the tension she brought to the set. Now, in a new interview with Page Six, show moderator Whoopi Goldberg revealed more of her true feelings about McCain and shared how the vibes at the show changed—for the better—once she left. Read on to find out more.
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The point of The View has always been for the co-hosts, who are cast in part for their differing values and opinions, to discuss and debate current events, but with McCain, some conversations about politics got particularly heated. Her conservative views were often in conflict with that of the other hosts, including Goldberg. After a December 2019 episode, Goldberg made headlines for telling McCain, “Girl! Please stop talking!”
In August 2021, McCain left the show, citing her move to Washington, D.C. and wanting to be with her family more. But, in her book Bad Republican, she explained that her exit was hastened by her not feeling welcomed back by the other hosts after her maternity leave. Specifically, she said that Joy Behar telling her on-air that she “did not miss” her made her feel “like [she’d] been slapped” and solidified her decision.
Speaking to Page Six, Goldberg was clear that the show is better without McCain.
“It’s calmer because nobody wants to be that tired every day,” the longtime host said. She added, “We’ve always had disagreements and stuff, but this one was a little bit different. I think [the show], it’s better. I feel it’s better, but I’m still tired!”
Goldberg also said that her daughter noticed how her expressions would reveal her true feelings whenever McCain was speaking on the show. “My daughter would say to me, ‘I can see your face!'” she recalled. “[And I would say], ‘OK, I’ll be better.'”
In July 2021, after McCain announced that she was leaving the show, Page Six reported that Goldberg, Behar, and Ana Navarro were all sick of working with her.
“It happened as soon as [new ABC News president] Kim [Godwin] came in,” a source claimed. “It was right after Joy and Meghan’s huge [on-air] blow-up [in May] where the network called an emergency meeting. They told new management, ‘We don’t want to work with her anymore.'”
A source also claimed to Page Six that it was a surprise Goldberg was so involved in the situation. “Everyone was at their wits’ end—even Whoopi, and she’s the chillest of them all. Whoopi is never going to advocate for anyone to get fired. She’s not about that, but she was very clear that she no longer wanted to work with Meghan.”
In Bad Republican, McCain said that she felt supported by Goldberg at first, but that their relationship took a turn for the worse.
“The thing about Whoopi, though, is that she yields so much power in culture and television, and once she turns on you, it can create unfathomable tension at the table,” McCain wrote (via Variety). “I found her open disdain for me more and more difficult to manage as the years went on and it became more frequent.”
In her recent interview with Page Six, Goldberg said that while the co-hosts had heated discussions on the show, the arguments with McCain didn’t carry on after the cameras stopped rolling.
“People felt like they wanted to go home,” she explained. “There was no point in fighting. You do what you do and you go home and do what you love to do. And hopefully, everybody is now happier.”