The View Has Been On Air For 22 Years And The Drama Has Hardly Ever Been Scarce: Here Are Some Of The Biggest Feuds
On Tuesday morning, Abby Huntsman, one of the latest conservative voices on The View, announced she was leaving the long-running ABC daytime show to help run her father Jon Huntsman Jr.âs campaign for Utah governor. Of course, this was only the âofficial reasonâ. In its nearly 22 years on air, the show has seen some extremely tense moments âread on to find out about a few of them.
Today, Iâm saying goodbye,â Huntsman said of going to work with her dad, the Republican politician and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia.
âItâs not often in life that you get these moments to go fight for something that you are so passionate about.â Of course, thereâs always an official explanation and a rumored-to-be-more-real one. In this case, there were reports, including one from CNN Business, claiming Huntsman was fleeing the showâs âtoxic cultureâ
The View has gone from coffee klatch to political roundtable and back again in since it debuted in 1997.
These days, itâs been coined âthe most important political TV show in Americaââa must-stop on the presidential candidatesâ press tour. Losing Huntsman also means the loss of a vocal conservative in that political crossfireâa host who actually wanted to welcome recent guest Donald Trump Jr. But one constant on the show is, well, the drama. The Huntsman-McCain conflict is only the latest in a long line of View feuds, blowups, and scandalous exits in the showâs 23-season history.
Ahead, a look at the high (low?) lights, in chronological order:
Barbara Walters versus Debbie Matenopoulos
When Walters launched The View in 1997, she cast/hired 22-year-old Matenopoulos. Debbie reportedly drew Waltersâs ire when she couldnât quite hold her own among the original five, including Joy Behar, Star Jones, and Meredith Vieira. Matenopoulos was frequently mocked on Saturday Night Live for being ditzy. Plus, she apparently partied too much for the bossâs taste. âAfter Debbie had gotten written up in âPage Sixâ for taking her top off at Hogs & Heifers, Barbara counseled her on not tarnishing her name as a public figure.â Matenopoulos was fired in 1999 and replaced by hard-hitting journalist Lisa Ling.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck versus Rosie OâDonnell
OâDonnell only appeared for two brief stints on The View, but still managed to lock horns with ex-Survivor contestant Elisabeth Hasselbeck in a viral nearly 10-minute-long on-air debate about the Iraq War in 2007. (OâDonnell had pressed Hasselbeck to back her up that she had never equated American troops with âterroristsâ; Hasselbeck balked.) âHereâs how it gets spun in the media: âRosie, big, fat, lesbian, loud Rosie, attacks innocent, pure, Christian Elisabeth,ââ OâDonnell later said. She left the show that year: âThe day it happened, I was definitely crying,â OâDonnell told Variety.
Whoopi Goldberg versus Rosie OâDonnell
OâDonnell and Goldberg clashed in 2009, when OâDonnell expressed her disagreement with Goldbergâs assertion that director Roman Polanski hadnât committed ârape rape,â despite having pled guilty to statutorily raping then-13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1979. Goldberg supposedly sent OâDonnell an âangry letter,â and OâDonnell says she responded diplomatically, writing her own letter apologizing for any hurt feelings.
But when OâDonnell returned to The View in 2014 and offered up contributions to the daytime talk show â like starting the morning meeting a half-hour earlier and covering the Bill Cosby rape allegations â Goldberg shut down her ideas, she claimed. And the tension played out on television, too.
Barbara Walters versus Jenny McCarthy
Walters tapped McCarthy to join The View in 2013, a year before Walters herself left the show. According to McCarthy, this made for a power struggle. âImagine a woman like Barbara Walters,â McCarthy said in Ladies Who Punch. âItâs her last year, and she doesnât want to leave…. And Iâm the new bitch there.â The two reportedly fought over who would moderate debates, and also sanitary products, with Walters reportedly demanding McCarthy change her outfits and, once, chastising her over a tampon left in a toilet (one McCarthy says was not hers).
Joy Behar versus Meghan McCain
The honor of splashiest feud in the modern era of The View goes to stalwart Behar and Meghan McCain. In 2018, they got into it over Trump once again: âI really come here every day open-minded, just trying to explain it, and itâs not a fun job for me every day,â McCain said. When Behar made a pitying âawwâ sound, McCain snapped: âOh, donât feel bad for me, bitch, Iâm paid to do this, okay?â After a little more back and forth, Whoopi Goldberg threw to a commercial break: âI just need everybody to take a beat.â
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