What made Meghan McCain storm off set?
Which guest did Whoopi say she would have "schooled?"
And which former host has definitely not been missed?
Keep watching for the most unforgettable The View moments.
At this point, few people are jumping in to defend disgraced comedian Bill Cosby, who
was convicted with numerous sexual assault charges and only set free in 2021 due to a
technicality of court procedure.
But in 2014 and 2015, when women first started coming forward with their accusations, Whoopi
Goldberg came to Cosby's defense on The View, explaining that she did not want to make a
judgment until his case was tried in court.
Goldberg caught a lot of heat for her statements, but the truth is that in 2014, the entire
cast — aside from Rosie O'Donnell — took a similar stance.
Jezebel summed up their positions: Nicolle Wallace said at the time,
"This is either a tragedy or a tragedy.
[...] I don't know what the truth is."
Rosie Perez criticized the role of social media and lamented,
"It's as if you are guilty until proven innocent."
Only O'Donnell pushed her co-hosts to take Cosby's many accusers at their word.
Goldberg defended Cosby yet again on The View the following year, saying,
"This is my opinion and in America, still — I know it's a shock — but you actually
were innocent until proven guilty.
[...] He has not been proven a rapist."
However, she switched her stance following an interview with ABC News Chief Legal Analyst
Dan Abrams, eventually conceding that about 50 women falsely accusing Cosby was highly
unlikely.
And when he was finally charged in late 2015, per ET, the host stated that she was, quote,
"glad" it was happening.
In a controversial and cringe-worthy moment in August 2015, The View co-host Kelly Osbourne
tried to make a point about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's immigration plans,
but her ill-articulated feelings fell flatter than flat.
Discussing Trump's comments about Latinos, co-host Rosie Perez argued that such rhetoric
was detrimental to dealing with immigration issues in the United States.
Osbourne chimed in,
"If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet,
Donald Trump?
In the sense that, you know what I mean?"
Mmm, no, we don't.
Perez clapped back saying,
"Latinos are not the only people to do that."
Osbourne's comment provoked a ton of outrage on social media, and she later issued an apology
on Facebook:
"I will take responsibility for my poor choice of words but I will not apologize for being
a racist as I am NOT.
I whole-hearted[ly] f---ed up today."
She also said Perez cut her off mid-sentence, so she wasn't able to finish her point.
In turn, Perez kindly tweeted her support and apologies to Osbourne.
Osbourne told Entertainment Weekly she made a mistake trying to fall back on, quote, "witty
sarcasm" when discussing race.
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, has gone on the record numerous
times, including in a 2021 HBO documentary, to accuse Allen of sexually abusing her when
she was 7 years old.
To date, Allen has never been prosecuted and continues to candidly deny Dylan's claims.
However, a number of high-profile Hollywood figures have turned their backs on him in
the wake of the scandal and the rapidly growing #MeToo movement.
The View co-host Barbara Walters came under serious scrutiny when she voiced her opinion
during a February 2014 episode, suggesting that Allen was innocent and Dylan Farrow must
be lying.
At the time, Farrow had recently published a letter in The New York Times detailing her
allegations against Allen.
Walters claimed,
"She's doing it now because he's up for an award."
Walters also said that she'd spent a lot of time with Allen and his family, that he seemed
to love his kids very much, and that it didn't seem like he'd be capable of harming anyone.
Walters' co-hosts were quick to argue.
Sherri Shepherd offered up that Allen's current wife, Soon-Yi Previn, was also one of Mia
Farrow's adopted children and that Soon-Yi was allegedly just 17 at the start of their
relationship.
Walters wouldn't budge, however, and continued to insist that Allen's preference for younger
women wasn't proof of inappropriate behavior.
The backlash on Twitter was swift, with viewers accusing Walters of silencing sexual abuse
victims and displaying favoritism, according to USA Today.
Some of the most outrageous and controversial moments in the history of The View have occurred
between co-hosts.
Arguably one of the most infamous was the on-screen blowout between Rosie O'Donnell
and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
During a May 2007 episode, O'Donnell and Hasselbeck, who typically represented opposite sides of
the political spectrum, got deep into it about the war in Iraq.
O'Donnell had previously expressed frustration that conservative groups had claimed that
she called American troops "terrorists."
Leading up to the fight, O'Donnell predicted that getting into a conversation with Hasselbeck
about the issue would result in accusations that would headline as,
"Big, fat, lesbian, loud Rosie attacks innocent, pure, Christian Elisabeth."
An increasingly heated discussion erupted about the co-hosts' relationship and if Hasselbeck
would defend O'Donnell.
The whole thing culminated with O'Donnell calling Hasselbeck a coward, and Joy Behar
pleading that the show go to commercial.
Former executive producer Bill Geddie reflected on the fight in 2016:
"It was a horrible day to be in The View studios."
In July 2010, Mel Gibson's career seemed to be in the balance following offensive, racist,
and sexist rants leaked online that were alleged to be recordings of the actor screaming at
and threatening his then-girlfriend.
Whoopi Goldberg invited controversy when she jumped to Gibson's defense on The View, saying,
"I don't like what he did here, but I know Mel and I know he's not a racist.
[...] He may be a bonehead.
[...] I can't sit and say that he's a racist, having spent time with him in my house with
my kids."
During an episode a few days later, Goldberg stood by her original statements, saying,
"My experience tells me that this is not a racist."
She also said her office had been receiving threatening phone calls in the wake of her
initial defense of Gibson.
Co-host Joy Behar appeared on The Insider and explained that she was surprised by Goldberg's
position, noting that
"Barbara [Walters] would not allow [Mel Gibson] on the show.
Barbara's Jewish, he's an anti-Semite, he's a racist... so he's done."
To date, Gibson has never appeared on The View.
It's safe to say that a lot of people have a problem with provocative former Fox pundit
Bill O'Reilly, especially since he was fired over sexual harassment allegations.
Two of The View hosts made their less-than-fuzzy feelings toward O'Reilly known during a heated
October 2010 appearance.
O'Reilly appeared on The View to publicize his book, Pinheads and Patriots.
The hot topic for the segment was a mosque that was slated to be constructed near Ground
Zero.
O'Reilly was dead-set against the mosque and bickered heartily with the hosts.
Meanwhile, Joy Behar made bunny ears behind O'Reilly's head and called him a pinhead,
an allusion to his book.
The laughs ended, however, when O'Reilly said,
"Muslims killed us on 9/11."
Angered by the racist undertones of O'Reilly's comments, Whoopi Goldberg and Behar got up
and walked off the set.
According to ABC News, they returned after O'Reilly sort of apologized for making some
people feel like he was, quote, "demeaning all Muslims," though he maintained his original
position for the remainder of his interview.
In 2008, sportscaster Erin Andrews was the victim of a horrible stalking incident that
involved a man videotaping her through a peephole as she undressed in a motel room.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck landed in hot water after making light of the crime during a May 2010
episode of The View.
In the segment, Hasselbeck talks about Andrews' costumes on Dancing With the Stars, saying,
"In the past three weeks she's been wearing next to nothing.
[...] I mean, in some way if I'm [the stalker], I'm like, 'Man!
I just could've waited 12 weeks and seen this — a little bit less — without the prison
time!'"
Andrews told People that Hasselbeck's comments were, quote, "a slap in the face to victims
of stalking and sexual predators."
Hasselbeck later tearfully explained on the show that she deeply regretted her comments
and had called Andrews on the phone, at the request of her then-5-year-old daughter, to
personally apologize.
However, Andrews told Us Weekly that she didn't speak with Hasselbeck.
Honestly, we can't blame her.
Guest co-host and former Disney star Raven Symoné quickly gained rank in the controversy
department of The View in March 2015 by defending racist comments that Univision host Rodner
Figueroa had made about Michelle Obama.
Figueroa had been fired from his job at Univision after comparing the first lady to a cast member
from Planet of the Apes.
According to The Wrap, Rosie Perez was the first member of The View panel to speak out
against Figueroa.
She said,
"There is a secret in the Latin community, specifically the Caribbean, South American,
Central American Latin community.
They are very racist."
Symoné wasn't convinced that Figueroa had meant his comments in a racist way.
She said,
"Some people look like animals.
I look like a bird.
So can I be mad if somebody calls me a Toucan Sam?"
The controversy didn't stop there for Symoné.
She also caught serious heat for comments she made later that year.
During an October 2015 episode, she slammed ethnic-sounding names:
"I'm not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea.
It's just not gonna happen.
I'm not gonna hire you."
Long before Donald Trump was running for president, he was busy spreading conspiracy theories
about President Barack Obama's citizenship.
In 2011, he visited the women of The View to discuss potential political ambitions,
throw shade at Obama, and demand that the then-president produce proof that he was actually
born in the United States.
Trump asked the hosts,
"Why doesn't he show his birth certificate?"
Goldberg shot back asking, quote, "Why should he have to?"
Trump answered, saying, quote, "I wish he would."
He also claimed that no one from Obama's childhood remembers him.
Trump acknowledged that Obama was "probably" born in the U.S., but suggested there's something
on his birth certificate he didn't want to show to the public.
"I think that's the biggest pile of dog mess I've heard in ages."
Let us never forget that in 2011, President Obama released his birth certificate and ridiculed
the distracting noise that people like Trump had created.
Trump then took credit for settling the issue, although he has since kicked up dust about
it again.
Conservative author and media personality Ann Coulter has made a name for herself by
promoting inflammatory ideas.
She stayed the course during a September 2012 appearance on The View, promoting her book,
Mugged, and saying that liberals are guilty of, quote, "race-mongering" and that most
supporters of segregation were liberals.
Whoopi Goldberg challenged her theories.
"If you're gonna talk about race, at least know what you're talking about.
Tell me how much you know about being Black."
Coulter replied that her book wasn't about Black people, but about white liberals not
caring about Black people.
According to HuffPost, Coulter barreled on with her controversial decrees about liberals
and their views on race, while Goldberg continued to be visibly distressed by her statements.
The conservative pundit even drove Goldberg to use profanity on the show: the Academy
Award winner was eventually bleeped for calling Coulter's thoughts "bulls---."
One group of people you really don't want to upset is the nurse community, as Joy Behar
discovered in September 2015.
As The View panelists watched a clip of Miss Colorado giving a speech at the Miss America
pageant wearing her nurse's uniform, Behar quipped,
"Why does she have a doctor's stethoscope around her neck?"
According to Us Weekly, the social media response was almost immediate, with nurses creating
the hashtag #NursesUnite and calling for Behar to apologize, pointing out that all medical
professionals regularly wear stethoscopes.
The American Nurses Association also responded, releasing a statement that scorned Behar,
saying,
"[Behar used] her national platform and influence to mock Miss America contestant Kelley Johnson
[...] as if Johnson were wearing a costume."
You've probably predicted by now that Behar apologized, saying,
"It was just stupid and inattentive on my part."
Meghan McCain and Joy Behar sparked a lot of conversation about what kind of language
is appropriate for a political debate after the conservative host called Behar a "b----"
on live TV in 2019.
The pair argued over McCain's efforts to explain why Republicans were supporting Donald Trump
as Behar spoke about how angry she was.
After Whoopi Goldberg tried to intervene and cool the discussion down, McCain insisted,
"I'm the sacrificial Republican every day."
When Behar responded with mock sympathy, McCain continued:
"Don't feel bad for me, b----.
I'm paid to do this, okay?
Don't feel bad for me."
She later claimed that the hosts all call each other that word" all the time.
McCain argued,
"I just want everyone to stop being so precious about our relationship, because it's almost
2020 and women can debate on TV in a spirited way without it being personal, and I know
this is a big shock — we get along backstage."
Behar agreed, adding that the two women are, quote, "both pugilistic, and so it's fine."
McCain also compared herself and Behar to "boxers" on Watch What Happens Live, claiming
that besides politics, they are, quote, "very similar" as women.
She said,
"We leave it all out on the table, we fight like boxers and then we leave, and I'm like,
'Do you want to get a drink?
Are we cool?'"
Although Whoopi Goldberg once told the late Senator John McCain that she would, quote,
"look after" his daughter on air, according to an extract from Meghan McCain's memoir
published by Vanity Fair, the conservative co-host's behavior sometimes tested Goldberg's
patience.
During a 2019 argument about the Senate, McCain kept talking over her fellow hosts and interrupting
Goldberg as she tried to end the segment and go to commercial break.
Goldberg eventually snapped and said,
"Girl, please stop talking.
Please stop talking right now.
This prompted McCain to emotionally claim that she wouldn't open her mouth again for
the remainder of the show.
Goldberg replied saying, quote, "I'm okay with that."
In her book, McCain insisted that Goldberg had "open disdain" for her, which became,
quote, "more and more difficult to manage as the years went on," especially during political
arguments.
The moment when the actor told the conservative host to stop talking "instantly trended on
Twitter," as McCain noted, which she claimed "really hurt" and affected their relationship.
McCain insisted,
"As the country got worse under Trump, the treatment from Whoopi, Joy and some of the
staff grew meaner and less forgiving.
It was as if I had become an avatar for everything they hated about the president."
Meghan McCain and Ana Navarro are two women who don't back down easily.
But during one argument on The View in 2019, McCain got so upset with her co-host that
she actually left the set during a commercial break.
The pair had been debating on the topic of whistleblowers and the conversation became
heated when McCain tried to bring up Julian Assange.
Navarro told her fellow host,
"I'm not talking about you.
I'm talking about the administration.
[...] I'm talking about sending Rudy Giuliani out to distract us.
I'm talking about telling us yesterday that Stephen Miller is actually dating a human
being and not an inflatable to distract us."
When McCain insisted that she didn't know what Navarro meant, the host responded by
warning her not to raise her voice.
Navarro pointed out,
"I'm two feet away.
I don't need you to scream at me this way."
The remark clearly hit a nerve, since the conservative correspondent then stormed off
the set.
Although she later returned to set following a commercial break, McCain's departure stirred
up a lot of debate on Twitter, where she responded to the controversy by dismissively writing,
"Another day, another drama."
When Mo'Nique came on The View in 2018 to talk about her pay dispute with Netflix, she
ended up in an unexpected feud with Whoopi Goldberg.
After the actor and comedian claimed that she had been blacklisted from the industry
after the film Precious, Goldberg accused her of simply being unprofessional.
Whoopi had her own opinions in response to Mo'Nique's allegations of bullying, saying,
"I said if you had called me, I could've schooled you on what was expected."
Mo'Nique later told Vulture that Goldberg had been condescending towards her saying,
"When you have a woman saying, 'I could have schooled you,' someone would say, 'What was
the schooling going to be?'
When I look at this woman you say is our icon and our legend — she is."
Mo'Nique went on to question Goldberg's own career and credibility saying,
"But, how many things has Whoopi Goldberg executive produced?
Whoopi Goldberg has always been the help, and I say that humbly.
So what is it that you're going to school me on?
I've been doing it for almost 30 years."
Mo'Nique concluded by saying,
"In that moment I knew I was looking at a woman who didn't give a damn about me."
Joy Behar and Meghan McCain have had their fair share of arguments over the years, but
in January 2021, one comment pushed McCain too far.
After the conservative host came back to The View from maternity leave, Behar shut down
any kind of heartfelt reunion.
McCain teased her during an argument, insisting that the other woman had "missed" fighting
with her.
Behar flatly replied,
"I did not.
I did not miss you.
Zero."
In an excerpt of her memoir, Bad Republican, McCain revealed that she had struggled with
postpartum anxiety before her return, so the, quote, "nasty" comment hit close to home.
The host claimed,
"Nothing anyone has ever said to me on camera since I have been giving interviews since
I was 22 years old ever hit this hard."
She added that she and Behar had previously texted about baby Liberty.
"We'd chatted in a friendly way.
I believed that, despite all our differences, deep down, we had a mutual understanding of
respect for each other."
McCain was so upset by her fellow host that she sobbed and threw up once the show was
done.
She shared,
"It is one of the most singular feelings of loneliness and anguish I have felt in my entire
life."
She called the moment,
"A perfect storm of hormones, postpartum anxiety and a lot of demons on The View coming out
to bite me."
Although McCain wanted an apology from Behar, the show's producers told her not to expect
one, and the two women didn't speak "one on one" again.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text
Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI
(6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.