Whoopi Goldberg Reportedly Pushed For Meghan McCain's Exit From 'The View,' Made It 'Very Clear' She Wanted Conservative Co-Host Gone
Meghan McCain recently announced her departure from The View, and while ABC reportedly begged the conservative co-host to stay, her on-screen colleagues – including "chill" moderator Whoopi Goldberg – were apparently doing the opposite.
"Everyone was at their wits' end – even Whoopi, and she's the chillest of them all," a source told Page Six. "Whoopi is never going to advocate for anyone to get fired. She's not about that, but she was very clear that she no longer wanted to work with Meghan."
The source added that part-time conservative co-host Ana Navarro "probably drank so many goddamn margaritas" to celebrate McCain's departure.
Unsurprisingly, Joy Behar is also said to have wanted the daughter of late Senator John McCain gone.
"It happened as soon as [new ABC News president] Kim [Godwin] came in," one source told the outlet. "It was right after Joy and Meghan's huge [on-air] blow-up [in May] where the network called an emergency meeting. They told new management, 'We don't want to work with her anymore.'"
"Whoopi was clear that she didn't want to work with her either," the source said. "There have been so many well-documented issues, and [Meghan] has not made a good impression on new management."
Another insider added that "[the hosts] all came with complaints to Kim about Meghan."
Multiple sources and insiders told Page Six that the previous network heads and showrunners always had McCain's back, noting that when Meghan and Sunny Hostin were at each other's throats, Hostin was reportedly instructed to "get along with Meghan or get out."
"Meghan hated Sunny and didn't trust her," the first source told the outlet. "She thought she was leaking stories about her and it was a bad situation. [ABC brass] essentially told Sunny, 'Don't make us have to choose between you and Meghan because we're not going to choose you.' And they've had a faux friendship ever since."
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Though a third source acknowledged McCain and Hostin's tense relationship in the past, they said they did actually end up developing a genuine friendship.
"They were in a bad place at one time," said the source. "They speak every day now and have been there for each other."
Other insiders told the outlet that McCain was miserable on the show and that she's truly ready to move on.
"It was a difficult decision for her to make, and they got what they wanted," another source said. "Meghan has been wanting to leave for a long time. She is sick of fighting this fight."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Meghan announced last week that she would be ending her four-season run on the daytime talk show at the end of July.
Despite various on-camera spats with her more liberal co-stars – one of which recently required executive intervention – Meghan described them as "strong," "brilliant" and "intelligent," and said they were "the most talented women on all of television."
The women reportedly did not know McCain would be exiting the show until she made her on-air announcement, as she is said to have had two more years until her contract was up.
According to reports, the reason she chose to leave is that she feels she gets ganged up on for being Republican.
As she had pointed out numerous times in the past, she said it was her father who encouraged her to join the show, despite her initial hesitations.
To her co-hosts, Meghan quipped, "I will still be here another month, so if you guys want to fight a bit more, we still have a few more weeks!"