'The View' Cancels Halloween Costumes Episode for Third Year in a Row Amid FCC Drama and 'Money Trouble' Rumors
'The View' has cancelled its Halloween tradition once again.
Oct. 27 2026, Published 5:45 p.m. ET
A Halloween tradition on The View appears to be broken as the panel once again ditched their costumes for a third year in a row, RadrarOnline.com has learned.
Co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, and Alyssa Farah Griffin confirmed they won't be participating in the costume tradition, founded by former panelist Barbara Walters.
'The View' Cancels Halloween Costumes
Instead, the show will air a children's costume segment.
According to ABC, The View will not host a costume content segment. Instead, they'll be featuring a "Boo Are You Wearing?" segment, which will see children in Halloween Costumes in reference to Hot Topics the women discussed over the year.
The daytime talk show has not featured a costume contest since 2023. In 2024, producer Brian Teta announced a plan to forgo the event out of concern for potential impact on the pending presidential election.
Teta told Behar on the Behind the Table podcast in 2024, "I'm going to announce something today that's going to upset a portion of the audience, but I think it's going to make you happy. This year, because it's only a few days before the election and we need to be live, the hosts are not going to dress up for Halloween."
ABC Exec Explains Decision
The segment was scrapped in 2024 and has not returned.
While he promised to "bring it back next year," meaning 2025, the iconic tradition remained missing from the show.
"The problem is, those shows are a huge undertaking; we have to do them on tape. Part of what our show has become and what it is right now, we can't be on tape three days before the election," he said.
With the midterm election just weeks away, Teta's standard was maintained yet again in 2026.
ABC Slashes Budget
A source claimed the show's wardrobe budget was affected.
While there is no official reason for the costume contest being nixed again, reports indicated budget cuts affected wardrobes for the show.
A source said both pay and wardrobe budget were affected by some major money slashing.
"(The hosts are) all mad because they were all wearing really expensive designer clothes, and now it’s the same budget of a Wendy Williams-type show versus a marquee daytime show," the insider claimed. "They keep downsizing and downsizing and downsizing."
The financial woes are allegedly caused by advertiser disinterest in the program as companies are favoring the show's competitors.
"There are definitely tensions with ABC," the source added.
'The View' Battles Trump's FCC
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The show scrapped portions of their show due to fears of the FCC.
The View dealt with controversy this past year for its heavy criticisms of President Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda. While there's no telling if The View's focus on Halloween would bait him or impact the elections, they're already walking on thin ice.
ABC reportedly censored certain clips of The View, which were Trump-critical, in order to appease the president, who has threatened FCC intervention in TV networks.
Beth Wilkinson, an attorney for Disney, admitted the move to a judge during a hearing in ABC's First Amendment lawsuit against the FCC.
Wilkinson claimed the show "forgo clips of political candidates on its 'Hot Topics' segment this cycle, out of concern it will invoke FCC scrutiny because of the equal time rule," Wilkinson said.
