The Most Explosive Fights And Feuds On 'The View' (2024)

Rosie O'Donnell Vs. Whoopi Goldberg

Co-hosting Era:2014-2015

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

The Blowout: While saying Americans were innocent until proven guilty within the legal system, Goldberg defended Cosby, swaying:

I don't like snap judgments because I've had snap judgments made on me, so I'm very very careful… save your texts, save your nasty comments - I don't care…

The Fallout: In a series of interviews, O'Donnell recalled her time working with Goldberg:

Whoopi Goldberg was as mean as anyone has ever been on television to me, personally - while I was sitting there. Worse than Fox News. The worst experience I've ever had on live television was interacting with her… We clashed in ways that I was shocked by.

While tensions had mounted between the two throughout their time together on the show, it was Goldberg's refusal to talk about Cosby - and how she treated O'Donnell off the air - that ultimately caused her to say she would never return to The View.

Meghan McCain Vs. Joy Behar

Co-hosting Era:2017-2021

Background:During her stint on the show, Meghan McCain often served as the only Republican on the panel of The View. Eventually, she began to feel that she was outnumbered and that her co-hosts dominated political topics with little consideration for her views.

The Blowout: The most significant disagreement between McCain and her co-host, Joy Behar, came shortly after McCain had returned from maternity leave. While McCain had long felt she wasn't respected for her views at the table, the live argument between her and Behar sent McCain over the edge.

After briefly squabbling, McCain joked to Behar: “Joy, you missed me so much when I was on maternity leave! You missed fighting with me!” To which Behar responded: ”I did not. I did not miss you, zero."

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

I had postpartum anxiety. When I was back, I was really nervous. It was like starting TV all over again. I felt unsteady. I was trying to make a joke…

After the show, I went back to my office and I had a panic attack… couldn't stop crying, and I'm not always crying. I couldn't compose myself. I threw up in the garbage can. I was so overcome. This is my narrative - "I come back from maternity leave and no one missed me." I knew it was going to be everywhere. I was just so confused, because women when they have babies should be treated respectfully when they come back to work.

Rosie O'Donnell Vs. Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Co-hosting Era:2006-2007

Background:Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck represented differing sides of the political aisle during their time on The View, but according to O'Donnell, there was no bad blood prior to their infamous '07 showdown:

There was a little bit of a crush. But not that I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to support, raise, elevate her, like she was the freshman star shortstop and I was the captain of the team.

The Blowout:After co-host Joy Behar casually mentioned a few of her grievances with then-President George W. Bush's policies, and wondered how the GOP could stand by him, Hasselbeck was first to speak out and defend the Republican party:

They stick by him for not demanding a pullout date for our troops, which is essentially saying to our enemies we don’t have any team out there.

As Behar and Hasselbeck passionately defended their stances, O'Donnell entered the conversation, asking, “You just said our enemies in Iraq… Did Iraq attack us?” From there, the argument exploded:

Hasselbeck:Iraq did not attack us, Rosie. We've been there before. I'm saying our enemies, Al Qaeda. Are you hearing that?

O'Donnell:I hear it, but where do you want to go?…

Hasselbeck:You're playing a game, okay. If you're playing a game and I'm going to say, “Okay, I'm going to throw to my wide receiver. Wide right. Okay?… I'm going to do it in two seconds." What does that do for your enemy?

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

Hasselbeck:The enemy are not innocent.

O'Donnell:Iraq didn't attack us!

While Behar did her best to calm the situation and change the subject, Hasselbeck and O'Donnell continued to escalate their heated debate. As the jabs grew less political and more personal by the second, the screen shifted from the classic table view to showing O'Donnell and Hasselbeck in a split screen. The show's executives opted to let them continue their verbal battle instead of cutting to the scheduled commercial break, causing the increasingly personal feud to last nearly 10 minutes.

O'Donnell:Let me tell you why I don’t wanna do it [debate over politics]… Because here’s how it gets spun in the media: Rosie - big, fat, lesbian, loud Rosie - attacks innocent, pure, Christian Elisabeth. And I’m not doing it.

Hasselbeck:I don’t understand how there can be such hurt feelings when all I did was say, “Look, why don’t you tell everyone what you said?” I did that as a friend.

O'Donnell:What you did was not defend me… I asked you if you believed what the Republican pundits were saying. You said nothing. And that’s cowardly.

The Fallout:O'Donnell quit after the show despite still having a month left on her contract with ABC.

Jenny McCarthy Vs. Barbara Walters Vs. Whoopi Goldberg

Co-hosting Era:2013-2014

Background:Jenny McCarthy caused controversy before she ever even stepped foot on the set ofThe Viewas a co-host. She had previously appeared as a guest in 2007 to promote her bookLouder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism,and viewers of the show were well aware of her stances regarding vaccines.

Although McCarthy says she is not a participant in the anti-vax movement, she does believe the MMR vaccine caused her son, Evan, to develop autism as an infant. She also says she was able to heal her son through behavioral therapy, daily vitamins and supplements, and removal of gluten from his diet.No scientific research has proven her theories, and McCarthy said Barbara Walters was outraged by her claims.

The Blowout:When she was officially hired as co-host in 2013, McCarthy felt that the producers hoped to re-create Elisabeth Hasselbeck's personality and opinions for the show instead of allowing her to be herself. She recalled:

They did try to change me. They wanted Elisabeth back, and I wasn’t Elisabeth. I would literally have meetings before the show of them trying to input opinions in me to go against Whoopi… I was going to work crying. I couldn’t be myself. Every day I went home and I was miserable. It really was the most miserable I’ve been on a job in my 25 years of show business…

People don’t understand. Whoopi can knock over anyone in a debate. Her voice is not only strong in meaning but in sound. I wasn’t going to play a kiss a**. To me, Whoopi had an addiction to controlling people’s thoughts, their words, the room, the table, your feeling, your mood… She had an addiction to controlling all of it and everybody.

Of Walters, McCarthy said:

You know the movie Mommie Dearest? I remember as a child watching that movie and going, “Holy cow!” I’ve never seen a woman yell like that before until I worked with Barbara Walters.

The Fallout: Walters was facing her final season on the show, creating further tensions between herself and the other co-hosts on the set. Ultimately, McCarthy left after only one season, finding her co-workers too abrasive and the producers' demands on her unworthy of the amount of effort she put into the job.

Candace Cameron Bure Vs. Raven-Symoné

Co-hosting Era: 2015-2016

Background:Both the Full House star and the That's So Raven star were short-lived View hosts. They didn't appear to be particularly friendly off the show and debated opposing sides of sensitive topics, though they also didn't seem to harbor animosity toward each other.

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

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

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

[The bakery] didn’t refuse to bake the cake because of [the couple’s] sexual orientation… In fact, they baked cakes for them previously. They had a problem with the actual ceremony because that - the ceremony - is what conflicted with their religious beliefs. They are saying that they stand for marriage between a man and a woman.

The Fallout:Cameron Bure's comments drew plenty of ire from viewers. Raven-Symoné never commented on the argument, but Cameron Bure said: “I was pleased with, you know, how I handled myself.”

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Vs. Barbara Walters

Co-hosting Era: 2003-2013

Background: Elisabeth Hasselbeck served as the conservative representative of the show from her time on air, often vocalizing conflicting views regarding politics with her co-hosts.

The Blowout: Walters sent Hasselbeck over the edge on August 2, 2006, when the panel discussed the availability of 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 ripped her notecards to shreds during the time off air, screaming to Joy Behar:

F*ck that!… I'm not going to sit there and get reprimanded on the air. It's not okay to sit there and get reprimanded on the air. What the f*ck? I'm not going back out there…

What the f*ck! I don't even swear. She has me swearing. This woman is driving me nuts… I'm not going back. I can't do the show like this. She just reprimanded me, and she knew exactly what she was doing. Goodbye! I'm off. Write about that in the New York f*cking Post!

The Fallout: Hasselbeck had to be convinced to continue the show post-break, but when she finally chose to return, Walters was cordial to her as they reiterated how important it is that everyone's voice be heard at the table.

Although Walters never commented on the incident after it happened, Hasselbeck wrote a detailed apology regarding her choice of words on a topic she felt passionately about and shared that her co-host went on to help Hasselbeck secure a position at Fox and Friends.