“The View” lost its only outspoken, full-time conservative host when Meghan McCain departed the talk show in July.
McCain, 37, led the panel daily for four seasons with co-hosts Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, Sara Haines and Whoopi Goldberg before leaving amid claims of a “toxicity” in the workplace.
Hostin, 53, has now addressed the Republican journalist’s controversial exit — and stressed why the talk show needs another conservative viewpoint to fill McCain’s seat.
“Right now, we still do need a really conservative voice,” Hostin told the Cut in a new profile published Thursday. “I also believe it’s really important to not have someone on the panel who spreads misinformation, who adheres to the big lies, who is an anti-vaxxer, because I think that’s dangerous.”
The lawyer then gave a rundown of her co-hosts’ political views. She described Behar’s stance as “very progressive” and characterized Goldberg’s perspective as less extreme, elaborating that “her big issue is economic and taxes.”
Hostin explained that her own leanings are in the middle of “progressive values and conservative values.”
As for Haines, Hostin stated, “Sara says she’s an independent, but statistically there have been studies that show that independent people are just people that don’t want to be stigmatized by their own choices.”
“I also believe it’s really important to not have someone on the panel who spreads misinformation,” Hostin said. Disney General Entertainment Con Hostin continued, “Is she really an independent or just somebody that won’t commit? We need someone that will commit and we don’t have that voice. And we need someone that’s not duplicative of anyone else on the panel.”
A series of conservative guests hosts filled in for McCain starting on Sept. 7. They included Condoleezza Rice, Carly Fiorina, Eboni K. Williams, Cameran Eubanks and Gretchen Carlson.
In an excerpt of her audio memoir, “Bad Republican,” McCain opened up about her decision to leave ABC’s Emmy-winning daytime mainstay.
“You can’t imagine how it messes with your self-esteem working in an environment where the worst thing you can be in the world is a Republican during the Trump years,” she wrote. “As the country got worse under Trump, the treatment from Whoopi, Joy and some of the staff grew meaner and less forgiving.”
She continued, “It was as if I had become an avatar for everything they hated about the president. It felt like the co-hosts and staff only knew one Republican — me — and took out all their anger on me, even though I didn’t even vote for Trump.”
