Meghan McCain has not had a great return on The View, struggling to get support for her claim that Donald Trump supporters should be respected and left to reason with a Trump-incited coup attempt in Washington last week by those same supporters.
McCain, who was on maternity leave until recently, was told on air by a View co-host that she was not missed while she was gone, and she’s clashed with Whoopi Goldberg on air in recent days as well. And this sort of on-air tension has been impossible to miss, and may have the pandemic to blame at least in part.
According to a report from E! the tensions might be high on the show due, at least in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A source exclusively tells E! News that not being able to film the daytime talk show in person is contributing to a sense of increased tension, especially as Meghan McCain returns from maternity leave. The insider explains, “There has always been a sense of family behind the scenes at The View, but it has been harder to maintain that camaraderie amongst the show’s hosts while producing the show remotely.”
As the source explained, the on-air members of the show were not able to “hide” from each other when they were all filming in the same place. So even if things were tense during the show, which features several different hosts of various political persuasions, things were never really allowed to boil up for too long.
“The women typically start their mornings together in hair and make-up before passionately sharing their opinions,” the source continues. “Then once the show goes off the air, the panelists all walk off set together, and there is almost always a post-show meeting—allowing the hosts to smooth over any tension that may have bubbled over during the day’s episode.”
That lack of post-show meeting seems to be contributing to some of the troubles that have showed up on air. Laughing could be heard from somewhere on camera while Chris Murphy was explaining the First Amendment to McCain on Friday. And while there’s always been an “embrace debate” aspect of the show, McCain in particular has seen a lot of animosity since she’s returned.
[via E!]