McCain says she’s quitting ‘The View’

Williams to honor Juneteenth at July 4 festivities

NEW YORK, July 3, (AP): Meghan McCain, whose outspoken conservative views have frequently led to verbal fireworks and compelling television on ABC’s “The View,” said Thursday that she is quitting the daytime talk show after four years.

McCain, daughter of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, announced on the air that she would leave after the show’s season ends in late July.

“I will be here another month, so if you still want to fight a little more, we have four more weeks,” McCain said.

The 36-year-old commentator is usually the only conservative voice among the cast of five women, and not afraid to mix it up when she disagrees with them. In the past two months, for example, she’s had contentious exchanges with lead host Whoopi Goldberg and frequent foil Joy Behar.

The show, invented more than two decades ago by Barbara Walters, has done well in the ratings with a mix of celebrity guests and, most prominently, the combustible “hot topics” session where they kick around the day’s news.

Like many television shows during the COVID-19 pandemic, the hosts have been appearing remotely instead of meeting in a New York studio. McCain, married to conservative commentator Ben Domenech and mother of a baby daughter, said she didn’t want to leave her life in the Washington area to commute again to work.

“This was not an easy decision,” she said. “It took a lot of thought and counsel and prayer.”

ABC News said in a statement that it respected and understood her decision, and thanked McCain for her “fierce determination and vast political knowledge and experience.”

As the conservative voice on “The View,” McCain filled a role where producers had trouble finding the right person after Elisabeth Hasselbeck left in 2013. McCain has said she was going to turn down an offer to join “The View,” but her father said it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Like her father, she’s no big fan of former President Donald Trump. But her job often compelled her to explain to her co-hosts what people who supported Trump were thinking.

“This is no shade at women who have been here before, but I knew going in that I couldn’t be intimidated by the others and their strong opinions,” she told The Associated Press after her first season. “These are all smart, strong women. I had to stay true to my convictions and my politics and not let the physical audience in front of me, which is normally very liberal, or the audience on social media impact my politics. Because a lot of things I say are unpopular.”

Exception

She rarely backed down, and the words between the hosts frequently became sharp.

That was evident June 17, when McCain criticized President Joe Biden’s treatment of CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins at a news conference, for which the president later apologized. Goldberg noted that Biden’s predecessor — she refuses to say Trump’s name — never apologized, and that lit a fuse igniting a schoolyard brawl. Both hosts later apologized to each other.

In May, Behar took exception when McCain said she didn’t hear enough criticism of the spate of antisemitic hate crimes.

“I’ve been talking about antisemitism on this show for 25 freakin’ years,” Behar said. “Don’t tell me what I’m supposed to be saying, Meghan, OK? You do your thing, we do ours.”

Behar noted after McCain’s announcement that they’ve had their fights but also some interesting drinking sessions.

“I have really, really appreciated the fact that you were a formidable opponent in many ways and that you spoke your mind,” Behar said. “You’re no snowflake, missy.”

On her way out, McCain criticized media coverage of “The View,” saying the show was covered with deep misogyny and sexism. She said if the show’s hosts were five men instead of women, they’d have Pulitzer Prizes.

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NEW YORK: When Vanessa Williams hosts this year’s televised Capitol Fourth celebration, she will not only honor the nation’s traditional independence day, but also the country’s newly designated holiday — Juneteenth.

Williams, who was the first Black woman to be crowned Miss America, will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which has served as the Black National Anthem.

“It’s in celebration of the wonderful opportunity that we now have to celebrate Juneteenth. So we are reflective of the times,” she told the Associated Press on Thursday while promoting this year’s show.

Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of African American slaves and has been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States. It was made a federal holiday this year.

“A Capitol Fourth” is marking 41 years on the air. The show is broadcast to millions of viewers on PBS and streaming platforms as well as troops around the globe.

Williams serves as host this year but it’s not be the first time that she‘s brought current social changes to the festivities. At last year’s show, Williams said her musical selections expressed the angst that Black women — especially mothers — were feeling.

She sang the Stephen Sondheim song, “Not While I’m Around,” from his musical “Sweeney Todd,” an attempt to communicate what she was feeling as the mother of a Black son.

This year’s lineup will include Broadway phenoms like Cynthia Erivo, Christopher Jackson, and Laura Osnes. R&B legend Gladys Knight, country stars Alan Jackson and Jennifer Nettles, and the iconic Jimmy Buffett.

And then there are a few guests that are out of this world — literally. “We have three of our astronauts that are up in the space station that will be giving us a special message for the Fourth of July” Williams said.