Meghan McCain Exits ‘The View’: 10 Headline-Making Moments From Her Tenure (VIDEO)
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After nearly four years of clapbacks and controversy, Meghan McCain is calling it a day on The View. Earlier this month, the conservative pundit announced that she would be leaving the ABC daytime talk show at the end of its current 24th season.
McCain said at the time she was “eternally grateful” for the experience and that it was “a privilege to work alongside such strong, brilliant, intelligent, incredible broadcasters.”
But we’ll have to see how much The View’s co-hosts and viewers will miss McCain: Her right-wing viewpoints, when they didn’t land her in hot water, often made McCain a pariah on the show.
Here are some highs and lows from her time on The View…
October 2017: McCain brings her dad to work
Just two weeks into her View gig, McCain had a father-daughter moment on the show, with the late Sen. John McCain joining the ladies for an interview. After co-host Whoopi Goldberg mentioned that John had endorsed Meghan for the job, the senator quipped, “I certainly recommended it because [The View] needed a good conservative voice to counter yours.”
December 2017: McCain breaks down talking to Joe Biden about cancer
When future President Joe Biden stopped by The View to talk about the memoir he wrote about his son Beau’s battle with brain cancer, the discussion hit home for Meghan, since John had been diagnosed with brain cancer six months earlier. The View co-host teared up, and Biden took her hand and reminisced about his friendship with her dad.
March 2018: McCain criticizes David Hogg’s March for Our Lives speech
McCain criticized Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg after the 2019 March for Our Lives rally, calling him out for swearing during his speech at the event.
And her criticism didn’t sit well with some viewers. “Once again, @MeghanMcCain misses the point,” one person tweeted after that View discussion. “The words of @davidhogg111 aren’t effective because he cursed? The boy watched his friends die, and he’s not allowed to swear?”
March 2019: McCain shuts down a View critic—and, as it turns out, a wedding guest
brb replying to even the mildest criticism with “you were at my wedding Denise” pic.twitter.com/LSC9k2jkhX
— Taj Magruder (@TajPHL) March 26, 2019
In a now-deleted Twitter thread, conservative commentator Denise McAllister asked for an explanation of “the purpose” of The View. “It seems to me to be a roundtable of delusional mental midgets ricocheting ignorance and lack of emotional regulation,” she added.
McCain responded with a now-viral clapback, writing, “You were at my wedding, Denise…”
(McAllister then tried to backpedal, telling McCain that her criticism wasn’t meant for her. “My comment was directed at The View and the mental midgets who surround you,” she wrote in her tweet, per The Washington Post. “I don’t even know how you do it daily, and my hat is off to you for standing strong in the midst of crazy.”)
April 2019: Saturday Night Live pokes fun at the “princess of Arizona”
In a parody of The View on SNL, Aidy Bryant offered a helluva Meghan McCain impression: “Can I just say something, as the princess of Arizona?” she asked, in character. “There is a crisis at the border, and the border is right up in my Arizona, which was founded on sunburned women selling turquoise jewelry, not rando Mexicans. And that’s not racist, because my makeup artist is gay.”
McCain endorsed the spoof, calling it a “pop culture honor” and saying that Bryant, who went to the same high school as her, “nailed” the impression.
May 2019: McCain spoils Game of Thrones
The day after the controversial Game of Thrones series finale, McCain sounded off about the HBO drama’s “horrible” ending on The View, complaining about the person who ultimately sat on the Iron Throne… much to the dismay of fans like co-host Sunny Hostin, who was only on Season 4.
“I’m so sorry for the #GOT spoilers on the show today!” McCain tweeted minutes later. “I assumed every diehard fan had watched! My bad. Don’t watch, West Coast, if you don’t want a spoiler.”
June 2019: McCain calls Joy Behar a “b—h”
In a discussion about Trump supporters on the show, McCain complained about being the “sacrificial Republican” on The View, prompting mock sympathy from co-host Joy Behar. And to that, McCain snapped, “Oh, don’t feel bad for me, b—h.”
After the ad break, McCain told viewers that she and Behar use that term with each other and that they enjoy their frequent arguments. “We’re both pugilistic, and so it’s fine,” Behar added.
September 2019: McCain storms off the set
In another political debate, guest Ana Navarro told McCain not to scream at her from “two feet away.”
“That’s so rude, Ana,” McCain replied. And as the show cut to a commercial break, viewers saw McCain striding off the set.
Later, on Watch What Happens Live, McCain explained herself, saying, “We are told by producers to leave the table if it’s too heated.”
December 2019: Whoopi Goldberg tells McCain to be quiet
During one memorable episode, McCain continued pontificating about the pending impeachment of Donald Trump even as co-host Whoopi Goldberg was trying to segue to an ad break. And the Ghost actress lost her patience.
“Girl, please stop talking! Please stop talking right now,” Goldberg said. McCain then vowed not to talk for the rest of the show, and Goldberg said she was “OK with that.”
The following day, McCain tweeted, “Good morning to all the fellow conservative ‘girls’ who won’t be quiet.”
February 2021: McCain’s vaccine comments spark controversy
Viewers didn’t take kindly to McCain’s comments about her position in the COVID-19 vaccine queue. In case you missed it, she complained on the show about “the fact that I, Meghan McCain, co-host of The View, don’t know when or how I will be able to get a vaccine because the rollout for my age range and my health is so nebulous.”
One Twitter user responded, “And then there are those of us who are last in line and recognize that yes, more vulnerable people should get priority.”
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