The View has become more toxic than ever and morale among staffers is at an all-time low – and it’s all due to Meghan McCain, insiders have exclusively told DailyMail.com.
The 34-year-old conservative is at the root of discord behind the scenes at ABC’s long-running daytime talk show, earning her the nickname ‘Manic McCain!’ by producers for her inappropriate outbursts on screen and off.
McCain’s spats with co-host Joy Behar, including calling her a b***h on live TV and accusing Sunny Hostin of leaking negative stories about her, have reached such a boiling point that group Hot Topics meetings have been cancelled, sources said.
‘It’s never been this bad,’ an ABC insider told DailyMail.com ‘I’ve been around a long time, but the morale at the show is worse than ever – even worse than when Rosie O’Donnell was here!’
But another source with knowledge shot down the claims and disagreed, saying: ‘We are on a high. The New York Times said we are the most important political show in America. We are winning – the hosts are aware and so is the staff.’
Meghan McCain is the root of discord behind the scenes at The View – where morale is at an all-tome low, ABC insiders told DailyMail.com. ‘It’s never been this bad. I’ve been around a long time, but morale at the show is worse than ever,’ a source said
McCain’s spats with co-host Joy Behar, including calling her a b***h on-air, attempting to have Whoopi Goldberg’s close friend fired and accusing Sunny Hostin of leaking negative stories about her, have reached such a boiling point that group Hot Topics meetings have been cancelled, sources said
An ABC spokesperson said in a statement: ‘These are nothing more than old rumors and unfounded speculation. All of our co-hosts take great pride in their jobs. They are talented, smart women who have passionate conversations and can agree to disagree.
‘The View and the co-hosts have had an incredible year with great accomplishments finishing the season on a high note with more presidential candidates scheduled to appear next week.’
McCain’s divisiveness has not led to friendship with Behar, Hostin or Friday co-host Ana Navarro, with a source adding they ‘strongly dislike her and Whoopi tolerates her – so they are just co-workers, not her friends.’
In a recent op-ed for the New York Times, McCain revealed that moments before a cover shoot for the Times’ Magazine with the ladies of The View, her doctor told her she was miscarrying.
McCain wrote she wanted to keep the news private, but decided to share her experience because her brief absence from screens after July 4th ‘was enough to spark gossip about why I would be away.’
A source said: ‘She didn’t tell anyone she was pregnant. She actually had been telling people she wasn’t sure she wanted kids, and ended up pregnant.
‘None of the co-hosts are close to her, so she wouldn’t have told them.’
This is the photo shoot for the cover of the New York Times Magazine during which McCain was suffering a miscarriage, McCain revealed last Friday. A source said: ‘She didn’t tell anyone she was pregnant. None of the co-hosts are close to her, so she wouldn’t have told them’
Meanwhile, McCain is currently feuding with Hostin after DailyMail.com revealed she had called the show’s executive producer Brian Teta a ‘motherf***er’ during the commercial break in front of the studio audience.
The article angered the former Fox News pundit and she reignited a year-and-a-half old feud with Hostin, who she blamed for the story getting out.
When McCain first joined The View, she and Hostin had serious tension and got into several heated on-air spats. McCain even tried to quit The View at least three times in her first 30 days, DailyMail.com previously reported.
McCain accused Hostin of leaking stories to the media. Sources with knowledge of the situation said both hosts’ agents got involved and network executives had to mediate the situation.
‘Here’s the truth, anytime Meghan is mad at someone at The View she accuses them of being the leak. There have been at least five people that she’s accused of leaking stories since she joined the show,’ a source at the network said.
There’s no joint Hot Topics meeting anymore because of Meghan. Each lady is briefed by an individual producer in their dressing room.
They added: ‘But that’s indicative of how self-important she is, because anyone who has followed The View for the 22 seasons its been on air know leaks have been happening since the early years with the original cast of co-hosts.’
The accusation against Hostin has intensified division behind the scenes with the co-hosts. Things have gotten so bad, the co-hosts don’t even do their Hot Topics briefing together any longer.
‘There’s no joint Hot Topics meeting anymore because of Meghan. Each lady is briefed by an individual producer in their dressing room,’ revealed a second source.
‘For almost 20 seasons, the co-hosts did their Hot Topics meeting collectively in the hair and makeup room and were groomed by the glam team while discussing the issues of the day.
‘But because at one point Meghan accused people from the hair and makeup team of leaking stories, they were no longer allowed to come to the meetings and each lady had to get prepared following the briefing.’
However, another source with knowledge denied that group Hot Topics meetings were cancelled because of Meghan.
They said: ‘It’s not true. Whoopi was sick and in and out. Meghan was out for a few days, which she revealed why.
‘People were coming in later and too much was happening to have group Hot Topic meetings.’
McCain accused Hostin of leaking stories to the media. Sources with knowledge of the situation said both hosts’ agents got involved and network executives had to mediate the situation
Behar and the show’s Friday co-host Ana Navarro are on Team Hostin. The three got together during the show’s recent hiatus in the Hamptons (pictured) where they shared common bond for their disdain for McCain’s behavior, sources said
A series of negative stories implying McCain believed that Hostin was the show’s leak ran earlier this month in The Daily Beast, where Meghan worked for four years as a columnist and in the New York Post.
Hostin believes that this was an orchestrated smear campaign that McCain had her publicist do in order to gain public sympathy while negotiating her new contract.
According to a source at the show, Hostin, a former Federal prosecutor and Emmy-winning journalist put ABC News on notice that she will consider the necessary legal actions if McCain’s tactics don’t stop.
‘Everyone knows Sunny is a former prosecutor. She doesn’t play with her reputation. And she doesn’t take lightly to people trying to slander or defame her.
‘She doesn’t need to fight with Meghan in the press, she’s made it clear her fight will be with a lawsuit,’ stressed our source.
Behar and the show’s Friday co-host Ana Navarro are siding with Hostin. The three got together during the show’s recent hiatus in the Hamptons where they shared common bond for their disdain for McCain’s behavior, sources said.
‘Ana and Meghan don’t even pretend to be friendly off camera. After Ana embarrassed Meghan on live TV last summer for her questioning why Ana even still considers herself a Republican, the two have been mortal enemies ever since.
‘Ana invited all of the co-hosts but Meghan to her wedding earlier this year, and it’s no secret the reason ABC News hired Abby Huntsman over Ana after Sara Haines left is because Meghan threatened to leave if she had to work with Ana every day,’ said the source.
But another source denied that McCain and Hostin were feuding, saying: ‘I haven’t seen that. It’s frustrating because leaks undermine everything we do.
‘We pay them to have strong opinions, it’s what makes them authentic.’
The View’s moderator Whoopi Goldberg also is at her wit’s end with McCain, according to insiders. McCain tried to get The View’s makeup artist Karen Dupiche fired. When Goldberg heard McCain had went to network brass and demanded Dupiche be fired, the EGOT winner threatened to ‘raise holy hell’ if Dupiche wasn’t left alone
The View’s moderator Whoopi Goldberg also is at her wit’s end with McCain, according to insiders.
McCain had tried to get The View’s Emmy-winning makeup artist Karen Dupiche fired for liking a post on Instagram by CNN commentator criticizing McCain for telling Behar: ‘You get paid to listen to me.’
Dupiche has worked at The View for more than 15 years and has survived all of the show’s divas: Star Jones, Elizabeth Hasselbeck and even Rosie O’Donnell.
‘If you look at Karen’s social media, you’ll see she continues to do both Elizabeth and Rosie’s makeup to this day, making her the Switzerland of makeup artists – she’s always been neutral and has always gotten along with even the co-hosts not known for being easy to work with,’ said the source.
So when Goldberg heard that McCain had went to network brass and demanded Dupiche be fired, the EGOT winner threatened to ‘raise holy hell’ if Dupiche wasn’t left alone.
The insider said: ‘Karen is the one who took Whoopi to the hospital when she had double pneumonia and became septic.
‘When Whoopi surprised the co-hosts and came back to the show unexpected earlier this year, she brought Karen to the table and credited her for helping save her life.
‘So Meghan targeting Karen over a social media post set Whoopi off and she lashed out at the executives in a way that sent shockwaves through the network.’
Another bone of contention Goldberg has with McCain is her chummy relationship with Ramin Setoodeh, the author of Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View that was released earlier this year. Pictured: McCain and Ramin in 2014
Another bone of contention Goldberg has with McCain is her chummy relationship with Ramin Setoodeh, the author of Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View that was released earlier this year.
Goldberg is one of the only two co-hosts from the original Barbara Walters’ years of The View that refused to be interviewed (Hasselbeck was the other) because admittedly she feared it would end up being a negative depiction of the show.
Since the book was released, two former co-hosts O’Donnell and Sherri Shepherd have both expressed regrets about talking to the author.
‘Meghan used to be Ramin’s intern and he writes a thank you to her for pushing him to do this book in his acknowledgements,’ emphasized the source.
In Ladies Who Punch, Setoodeh writes: ‘Meghan McCain championed this idea, declaring it a bestseller, even before she became a co-host on the show.’
Despite Goldberg’s feelings about the book and ABC News banning any discussion of the tell-all on the show, McCain still invited Setoodeh to visit her at the show recently and he was hanging out in her dressing room.
‘It’s very questionable that the woman always running around accusing everyone and their mother at The View of being the leak at the show has the man who wrote the tabloid tell-all about the show hanging out at the studio knowing no one wants him there.
‘But Meghan is only concerned about one person, Meghan McCain, and as long as ABC allows her to terrorize her co-hosts, the producers and the staff the way she does; it’ll never stop,’ concluded the source.
ABC is hoping that the women can survive together until August 2 when they take a break for their summer hiatus without another epic implosion on air. The show will will then kick off season 23 after Labor Day.