The Most Explosive Fights And Feuds On 'The View'

Co-hosting Era: 2017-2021

Background: During her time on the show, Meghan McCain often was the only Republican on the panel ofThe ViewEventually, she felt outnumbered. Co-hosts dominated political talk with little regard for her views.

The Blowout: The biggest fight between McCain and co-host Joy Behar happened soon after McCain returned from maternity leave. McCain felt disrespected for her views at the table. The live argument with Behar pushed McCain over the edge.

After a brief argument, McCain joked to Behar, “Joy, you missed me so much when I was on maternity leave! You missed fighting with me!” Behar replied, “I did not. I did not miss you, zero.”

The Fallout: McCain felt shaken by the experience. She left the show because of the incident. She shared:

I had postpartum anxiety. Returning felt like starting TV again. I felt unsteady. I tried to make a joke…

After the show, I went to my office and had a panic attack. I could not stop crying; I don't always cry. I could not calm down. I threw up in the garbage can. I was so overwhelmed. This is my story: “I come back from maternity leave and no one missed me.” I knew this would happen everywhere. I was confused because women should be treated with respect when they return to work after having babies.

Co-hosting Era: 2014-2015

The Background: Sexual assault charges against Bill Cosby became a hot topic during Rosie O'Donnell's second term onThe View, and the A League of Their Own The star felt it was important to discuss his possible guilt and consequences on air. Whoopi Goldberg hesitated to focus on the comedian and actor but eventually agreed to discuss the allegations live on TV briefly.

The Blowout: While stating Americans are innocent until proven guilty in court, Goldberg defended Cosby, which swayed:

I dislike snap judgments because people made snap judgments on me, so I am very careful… save your texts, save your nasty comments—I do not care…

The Fallout: In interviews, O'Donnell recalled working with Goldberg:

Whoopi Goldberg was as mean as anyone has ever been on television to me, personally—while I was sitting there. This was worse than Fox News. The worst live television experience I had involved interacting with her. We clashed in ways that shocked me.

Tensions grew between them during their time on the show. Goldberg's refusal to discuss Cosby—and how she treated O'Donnell off-air—caused her to state she would never return toThe View.

Co-hosting Era: 2013-2014

Background: Jenny McCarthycaused controversy before she stepped onto the set ofThe Viewas a co-host. She appeared as a guest in 2007 to promote her bookLouder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing AutismViewers knew Jenny McCarthy's views on vaccines.

McCarthy claims the MMR vaccine caused her son, Evan, to develop autism as a baby. She states she healed her son using behavioral therapy, daily vitamins and supplements, and removing gluten from his diet. Science has not proven her theories. Barbara Walters expressed outrage over her claims.

The Blowout: When Jenny McCarthy started as co-host in 2013, she felt producers wanted to copy Elisabeth Hasselbeck's personality and views instead of letting her be herself. She recalled:

They tried to change me. They wanted Elisabeth back, but I was not Elisabeth. I had meetings before they tried to force opinions against Whoopi. I worked crying. I could not be myself. Each day I went home and felt miserable. This was the worst job I've had in my 25 years in show business.

People do not get it. Whoopi can win any debate. Her voice carries strong meaning and sound. I did not want to play a kiss a’. Whoopi had an addiction to controlling people's thoughts, words, the room, the table, feelings, moods. She controlled everything and everyone.

McCarthy said about Walters:

You know the movie Mommie Dearest? I watched that movie as a child and yelled, “Holy cow!”. I had never heard a woman yell like that before until I worked with Barbara Walters.

The Fallout: Walters faced her last season on the show. This created more tension between her and the other co-hosts on set. McCarthy left after one season. She found her coworkers too harsh and the producers' demands on her too much for the effort she put in.

Co-hosting Era: 2006-2007

Background: Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck showed different political views while they were on The View.The View, but according to O'Donnell, there was no bad blood before their infamous '07 showdown:

There was a small crush. I did not want to kiss her. I wanted to support, raise, and lift her up, like she was the star shortstop and I was the team captain.

The Blowout: After co-host Joy Behar casually mentioned her complaints about then-President George W. Bush's policies and wonderedhow the GOP could support him, Hasselbeck spoke up first to defend the Republican party:

They support him because they do not demand a pullout date for our troops. This means they tell our enemies we have no team out there.

Behar and Hasselbeck defended their views. O'Donnell joined the talk, asking, “You just said our enemies in Iraq… Did Iraq attack us?” The argument then exploded.

Hasselbeck spoke.Iraq did not attack us, Rosie. We have been there before. I am talking about our enemies, Al Qaeda. Are you hearing that?

O'Donnell said.I hear it. Where do you want to go?

Hasselbeck replied.You are playing a game. If you play a game and I say, “Okay, I will throw to my wide receiver. Wide right. Okay?… I will do it in two seconds.” What does that do for your enemy?

O'Donnell responded.Well, you know what, Elisabeth? If the enemy are innocent civilians, I do not want to play that kind of football.

Hasselbeck stated.The enemy lacks innocence.

O'Donnell remarked.Iraq did not attack us!

Behar tried to calm things down and change the subject. Hasselbeck and O'Donnell kept their heated debate going. As the jabs became less political and more personal, the screen changed from the table view to a split screen showing O'Donnell and Hasselbeck. The show executives let them continue the verbal fight instead of cutting to the commercial break. This made the personal feud last almost 10 minutes.

O'Donnell added.Let me tell you why I do not want to do it [debate over politics]… Because this is how the media spins it: Rosie—big, fat, lesbian, loud Rosie—attacks innocent, pure, Christian Elisabeth. And I will not do it.

Hasselbeck asserted.I do not get the hurt feelings when I just said, “Look, why don’t you tell everyone what you said?” I did that as a friend.

O'Donnell continued.What you did did not defend me… I asked you if you believed what the Republican pundits were saying. You said nothing. That is cowardly.

The Fallout:O'Donnell quit the show after the broadcast, even though she still had a month left on her ABC contract.

Co-hosting Era:2015-2016

Background:Both theFull Housestar and theThat's So Ravenstar were short-livedViewhosts. They did not seem friendly.off the showand debated opposing sides of sensitive topics. They also did not seem to hold animosity toward each other.

The Blowout:Candace Cameron Buredefended the choice of an Oregon bakery to refuse making a cake for a gay couple's wedding. The bakery's former owners, Aaron and Melissa Klein, were ordered by a judge to pay the couple, Rachel and Laurel Bowman Cryer, $135,000 in compensation.

The topic hit Raven-Symoné, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, hard. She argued that “the Oregon law bars businesses from discriminating against sexual orientation, race, disability, age, or religion.” Cameron Bure replied:

I do not think this is discrimination. This is about freedom of association… It is about constitutional rights… It is about First Amendment rights. We have the right to still choose who we associate with…

[The bakery] did not refuse to bake the cake because of the couple’s sexual orientation. They baked cakes for them before. They had a problem with the ceremony because that ceremony conflicted with their religious beliefs. They state they stand for marriage between a man and a woman.

The Fallout: Viewers disliked Cameron Bure's comments. Raven-Symoné did not comment on the argument. Cameron Bure said, “I was pleased with how I handled myself.”

Co-hosting Era: 2022-present

Background: Before joining as a co-host forThe View, Alyssa Farah Griffin worked for both the Trump administration and Mike Pence's press team. The conversation heated up on air as she and her co-hosts, specifically Sunny Hostin, discussed Pence's presidential candidacy.

The Blowout: First, Hostin, a legal expert, said she felt uncomfortable that someone who worked for Pence's campaign could not offer a solid reason why he would succeed in office. Then, the two started a verbal fight:

Hostin: What scares me, Alyssa, is that you cannot defend a man you worked for… I do not need to hear more from Pence, for several reasons.

Griffin: You just accused me of something, so why don't you let me answer? You will never vote for a Republican.

Hostin: No, I will finish what I say… The thing about Pence is, when I lived in Indiana and went to Notre Dame, he had a bad approval rating because of how he treated the AIDS crisis… Awful. Many people died because of him; many people died because of how he handled the COVID crisis.

Griffin: [You] defended Cornel West yesterday, who is destroying our country.

Seeing the argument become more personal by the second, Behar stepped in to calm the situation between the women, hoping for a truce. Instead, Griffin said:

Well, Sunny likes to make it personal with me… Are you going to give me a chance to answer? This is absurd. This is not what this show is about. This is Barbara Walters's legacy; let a woman speak!

The Fallout: Co-host and moderator Whoopi Goldberg called for a commercial break, letting the women pause and regroup before continuing the show.

Co-hosting Era: 2003-2013

Background: Elisabeth Hasselbeck served as the show's conservative representative while on air, often stating views that clashed with her co-hosts on politics.

The Blowout: Walters pushed Hasselbeck over the edge on August 2, 2006, during a panel discussion about the morning-after pill. While Hasselbeck said FDA approval was a “slippery slope to eliminating life,” Walters suggested they “have to learn how to discuss these things in some sort of rational way,” then cut to a commercial break.

Furious, Hasselbeck reportedly tore her notecards to shreds during her time off air, screaming at Joy Behar:

I refuse to sit there and get reprimanded on air. It is not acceptable to get reprimanded on air. What is wrong? I will not go back out there.

What the heck! I don't even swear. She makes me swear. This woman drives me crazy. I am not going back. I cannot do the show like this. She reprimanded me, and she knew exactly what she was doing. Goodbye! I am leaving.New York.f*cking.Post.!

The Fallout: Hasselbeck needed to convince people to continue the show after the break. When she finally returned, Walters spoke kindly to her. They both stressed that everyone's voice must be heard at the table.

Although Walters never commented on the incident, Hasselbeck wrote an apology about her word choice on a topic she cared about. She shared that her co-host helped Hasselbeck get a job at Fox and Friends..

Co-hosting Era.:1997-2006.

Background.: Although former co-hostStar Jones., while on camera, Jones claimed her weight loss came from proper nutrition and exercise. She told Barbara Walters and the other women on set she also had surgery. Many people questioned Jones's honesty about this, and she lost the trust of many fans.

Walters later told Oprah Winfrey:

She chose to have a gastric bypass surgery but then decided not to tell anyone. Then we had to lie on set daily because she claimed it was portion control and Pilates. We knew it was not portion control and Pilates.

The Blowout: In 2006, Jones found her contract would not renew due to falling ratings. She announced live on air that she was leaving the show in response, shocking her co-stars and viewers. During a segment, she said:

Something has been on my heart for a while. I feel like this is the right time to tell you the show is moving in another direction for its tenth season, and I will not be co-host next year.

Walters got angry at the move.refused to let Jones backJones returned to the show the next day and openly admitted she asked her co-stars to lie for her. Walters explained in interviews:

I love Star and I tried everything I could—until this morning when I was betrayed—to protect her. I would have loved for Star to leave instead of saying, “I was fired,” and making it look like the program was cruel to her.

The producers did lots of research, and her negative reports increased. This was not because of what she did on air. It was things she did off air. The audience lost trust in her. They did not believe some of what she said. We tried to talk [ABC] out of it. We tried to give Star time to earn back the audience's trust, but the research only got worse.

The Fallout:Walters and Jones ended their feud. Jones appeared again in 2012. Jones admitted fault for her actions, stating, “It was ugly… Nasty things were being said in the media, it just wasn’t a good emotional time.”