Times The View Cast Lashed Out At Their Own Audience
"The View" has made its mark on daytime television. Barbara Walters, the mastermind behind the show, created the program in 1997 with the aim to showcase a panel of different generations of women who could speak their minds on all things pop culture and politics, which has led to a fair share of iconic moments. Its diverse cast of women with differing political views has given way to some memorable showdowns, like the debate between Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
But another aspect of daytime television — the live audience — means that the women on the panel aren't the only ones on "The View" sharing their opinions. In the New York City studio, the audience has been just as lively as the co-hosts, making their views known either by cheering, booing, or even talking back to the panel. The audience at "The View" are practically extra co-hosts.
Despite the show centering around speaking your mind, sometimes the co-hosts have intense moments with the audience. Here are a few unforgettable times the hosts of "The View" chastised the crowd.
Whoopi Goldberg yelled at protestors who interrupted the show
When Ted Cruz made a recent appearance on "The View," things didn't quite go as planned. As the women on the panel conducted the live interview, protestors interrupted the show and could be heard shouting in the background. The protestors were climate change activists who wanted to confront the senator on his denial of climate change. "Vote for climate now!" they yelled. "ABC needs to cover climate change more instead of platforming a climate denier like Ted Cruz!"
As security attempted to quietly remove the protestors from their studio audience, panel moderator Whoopi Goldberg had a message for them. "Excuse me! Ladies, ladies, excuse us," Goldberg shouted. "Let us do our job, let us do our job! We hear what you have to say, but you gotta go." The audience erupted in applause as Goldberg shut them down. The protestors, who are a part of the New York Communities for Change, responded to Goldberg's comments on their Twitter. The group tweeted their videos from the protest and wrote, in part, "Whoopi said, 'Let us do our job' — but your network is failing to do ITS job!"
Cruz reacted to the moment on Fox News and called the protestors "climate change radicals." "It was a bit of a circus," he described. "But the reason I went on 'The View' is I think it's important that conservatives reach much more broadly than just preaching to the choir."
Meghan McCain chastised the audience for clapping
During live episodes, Meghan McCain tended to grow frustrated with the audience. Instead of ignoring their opposing views, the co-host would directly call them out on it. During an episode in 2018, McCain berated the audience for clapping as co-host Sunny Hostin called out former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Hostin expressed being disappointed in Kelly for associating himself with then-President Donald Trump and even noted that he tarnished his legacy by working with the former president.
As the audience broke out into applause, McCain took offense. "I just think it's weird to be clapping," McCain addressed the audience. "Whatever you think about his politics, he lost his son in combat for freedom, and, again, clapping in that way, again, your call: Everyone can interpret him differently."
McCain, who comes from a military family, took exception to Kelly, who lost his son in Afghanistan in 2010, being at the receiving end of criticism. As Joy Behar attempted to explain that the audience can choose to clap if they want, McCain again expressed her discomfort. "Everyone can do whatever they want. I'm saying, for me, it makes me uncomfortable," she remarked.
The audience booing bothered Meghan McCain
When Meghan McCain joined "The View," she took the difficult job of being the only Republican voice on the show during the Trump administration. It wasn't long before she realized how challenging the job would be. McCain sometimes struggled to get her viewpoint across to an audience skeptical about her politics.
During a 2019 interview with ET, McCain addressed the constant boos from the audience and discussed feeling singled out. "It's like, lots of intense emotions on this show and part of it is the political climate we're in and part of it's just the nature of the show, getting booed is very hard," she explained. At the time, McCain had entered her third year of the show and admitted she still hadn't gotten used to the negative reaction from the audience.
McCain was never shy about her frustration on air. During multiple segments, the co-host directly confronted the audience for their booing. When discussing the Democratic party calling for Donald Trump's impeachment in 2019, McCain seemed bothered by the audience interrupting her. As Sunny Hostin cheered for impeachment and was met with applause, McCain clashed with the audience. "Let me finish, let me finish, thank you!" she sternly said. When the audience later booed her, she rolled her eyes and said "Oh, come on!" During another heated debate, McCain once again responded to the boos, angrily shouting, "I'm used to the audience booing me, I'll be fine!"
Whoopi Goldberg put the audience in check for booing
People always tune in to "The View" to watch political figures, knowing the co-hosts will grill anyone who sits in the hot seat, including Kellyanne Conway, who made a guest appearance in May 2022 to promote her memoir, "Here's the Deal." Despite the ladies of "The View" being frequently critical of Conway, they were open to interviewing her and gave her a warm welcome. However, the live studio audience wasn't too happy about the things she said.
When discussing the 2020 election, Conway praised Donald Trump, which caused the audience to begin booing. "He should have won huge," she said of her former boss. "He had all these accomplishments, he's running against a guy who's stuck in the basement, and you're in the middle of a pandemic." Not missing the slight jab at President Joe Biden, the boos towards Conway were loud. Whoopi Goldberg quickly jumped in and chastised the crowd. "Listen, this is 'The View' and this is her view and she's talking about how she feels and what she knows, please don't boo her," she said. Conway didn't seem phased by the cold reception from the audience, however, and joked they were actually booing President Biden.
The interview only got worse from there. Conway and co-host Alyssa Griffin had a tense back and forth about their time in the White House. Conway, who was Griffin's former boss, wasn't too happy about Griffin grilling her over the January 6 riots.
Whoopi Goldberg scolded the audience for cheering about the impeachment
During the Trump administration, Whoopi Goldberg famously avoiding referring to then-President Donald Trump by name. During his time in office, when discussing him during the "Hot Topics" segments of the show, she only referred to him as "You know who." During a 2018 interview with David Axelrod, she explained that she simply couldn't bring herself to call him president. "Listen, this is the first time where I can't wrap my mind around this, and that people felt the need to put this in," she explained. "So yeah, I know people don't like that I don't do it. I'm fine with that."
In December 2019, when news broke that Trump was being impeached, the audience at "The View" broke into applause and loud cheers. Despite them being in a joyous mood, some co-hosts on the panel weren't too happy. Co-host Meghan McCain referred to it as "America's funeral" (via The Daily Beast), and Goldberg was also in a somber mood. As the crowd cheered, the co-host turned to them and began scolding them.
"No, no, this is not a celebratory moment. This is not a good thing," she said while wagging a finger at them. She referenced past impeachments for Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon and stressed that this was not a good moment for America. "This is not good. But in order to keep our nation on point, we must do the due diligence that the Constitution requires," she said.
Whoopi Goldberg confronted the audience during Donald Trump Jr.'s appearance
Donald Trump Jr.'s appearance on "The View" was filled with drama on-screen and behind-the-scenes. The interview kicked off with the co-hosts grilling him about his father's administration. Trump responded with jabs about a past Halloween costume that Joy Behar wore, which many considered to be Blackface. "We've all done things that we regret. I mean, if we're talking about bringing the discourse down, Joy, you've worn Blackface," he claimed.
Later Whoopi Goldberg and Trump clashed over his claims. According to The Hollywood Reporter, who attended the taping, a frustrated Goldberg scolded the audience during a commercial break for being too loud and interfering with the interview. "The booing is f***ing us up. It's messing with everyone's mic," she reportedly told the crowd. "You can grimace and all that. All we hear is booing." The tense environment during the interview spilled over to the commercial breaks as well. Goldberg had a tense back and forth with an audience member who questioned her about past comments about director Roman Polanski. "Then be quiet and listen to me," Goldberg countered after the woman expressed confusion.
Meghan McCain also had to reprimand an audience member. "If you can let me speak, I would appreciate it," she told one person. Multiple staff members reportedly had a difficult time controlling the audience. They pleaded with them to remain quiet and escorted out those using their phones. Overall, it was a chaotic day at "The View."
Meghan McCain said the audience was hostile
During a 2019 segment about DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile joining Fox News as an on-air contributor, Meghan McCain took another jab at the audience members who didn't like her. McCain explained that she can relate to being the only person in an environment with an opposing political view. "It's interesting to go into a space where your ideology is hated. Not that I would know anything about that every day," she joked while staring into the audience.
Panel moderator Whoopi Goldberg took exception with McCain using the word hated. "I disagree, hated is too strong a word," Goldberg interjected. "Normally it feels like a pretty hostile audience when I come in here," McCain explained. "Which is fine, I'm a big girl and I'm not asking for sympathy." The co-host went on to explain that winning over people who disagree with you is important.
In her memoir "Bad Republican," McCain reflected on her time on the show and described feeling hated by everyone due to her politics. "It was as if I had become an avatar for everything they hated about the president. It felt like the co-hosts and staff only knew one Republican — me — and took out all their anger on me, even though I didn't even vote for Trump," she wrote (via Vanity Fair).
Meghan McCain called out cheap applause from the audience
Since Meghan McCain was repeatedly met with boos during her time on "The View," it makes sense that she would be bothered by other co-hosts receiving cheers. McCain frequently referenced the other co-hosts receiving what she called "cheap applause." The comments were always a shot at the audience, who she believed was against her due to her conservative views.
During a heated debate about then-President Donald Trump's impeachment hearings, McCain lectured the other co-hosts about the purpose of "The View." "I think the point of this show is that we do all, every panelist on this show, sort of lives in a different world and has a different view," she told Joy Behar. And when co-host Sunny Hostin criticized Republicans, McCain grew angry when the audience cheered in agreement. "It's easy to get a cheap applause line here," McCain shouted over them. "It just is, and that's fine. Take your cheap applause line." When Hostin declared it wasn't a cheap applause line, McCain shouted back "Let me speak!"
During another instance, McCain once again referenced the applause. "I just feel like sometimes you just want to line up conservatives and throw grapefruits at us," she told the audience. The co-hosts tried to express to her that no one is attacking her. "I think when there's an applause line every time I say something," McCain began to explain before an exasperated Behar cut her off and said "Now you're blaming the audience!"