The View Arguments That Went Way Too Far

If there is one show that knows how to deliver an argument, it's "The View." The panel-based talk show aimed toward women has had a revolving door of guests and permanent hosts over the years, but one thing is for certain: The ladies at the table know exactly how to make an on-air argument go the distance. "The View" was created by famed television journalist Barbara Walters, who said at the time of the show's creation in 1997 that she wanted to be a part of a new kind of talk show. "I've always wanted to do a show with women of different generations, backgrounds and views," she said, as noted by The Guardian. "A working mother; a professional in her 30s; a young woman just starting out; and then somebody who's done almost everything and will say almost anything."

Well, Walters certainly got her wish. From guest stars and temporary hosts making a scene to full-time hosts resorting to insults, "The View" has had quite a few dramatic moments over its history. So buckle up, because here are "The View" arguments that went way too far.

When television personality Jeanine Pirro appeared on "The View" to discuss her new book in 2018, things went downhill really fast. Some of the hosts pushed back against Pirro when she defended former U.S. President Donald Trump's record, and it got worse when she said that outspoken co-host and moderator Whoopi Goldberg had "Trump derangement syndrome" (which, we should note, is not a thing). "I have never, ever seen anything like this, I've never seen someone whip up this much hate," Goldberg said to an unbothered Pirro.

After Goldberg gave her two cents, much to the audience's pleasure, Pirro fired back and tried to defend Trump's rhetoric. But, as you can imagine, things became even worse, and the two women got into a full-fledged screaming match. By the time the audience had no idea who was saying what, Goldberg looked at Pirro and said, "Goodbye!" and the show came to a conclusion. You can watch the drama all go down here.

You just know that when the tragic day of 9/11 comes up, things have the ability to go awry. First and foremost, it should be said that when talking about one of the darkest days in modern United States history, sensitivity and respect is crucial. But, on one episode of "The View," co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar got up and left the stage on-air after guest Bill O'Reilly made some questionable statements.

In 2010, O'Reilly brought up the then-charged topic of a mosque being built near Ground Zero in New York City. The conversation started off badly when he told Behar that if she would just be quiet, she would "learn something." By the time he and Goldberg got into it — with comments regarding Muslims and 9/11 on O'Reilly's part and and Goldberg saying, "That is such bulls**t" — things were in for a bad way. Behar finally got up and said, "I don't want to sit here," and both she and Goldberg left the stage. It was, by far, one of the most explosive moments on "The View" — and, knowing this show, that's saying a lot.

When conversations encroach into the world of politics, things are bound to get ugly. And that's exactly what happened when "The View" hosts started talking about Amy Coney Barrett, the then-likely replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court (at the time of this particular argument, Barrett had yet to be confirmed to the bench). Co-host Meghan McCain went into a full-fledged rant, accusing the Democrats of being pro-abortion and defending Judge Brett Kavanaugh as she did so.

Co-host Sara Haines piped in, trying to tell McCain that Barrett had once said something that "should scare all of us," but before Haines could even get a word in, McCain was back on the defensive. "I would be very careful slandering her, Sara, before she's even been put in a court," McCain said during the argument, that, at one point, got so fired up, viewers couldn't even hear who was saying what. Haines even said, "Meghan, please just give me a chance," but moderator and co-host Whoopi Goldberg stepped in and said, "Everybody stop," and they went to commercial.

When you hear the name Ann Coulter, you just know that stuff is going to go down, and that's exactly what happened when the political pundit appeared on "The View." Coulter came to discuss her new book, but the conversation quickly took a turn when she got into it with co-host Raven-Symoné. Things were already uncomfortable when Coulter and Symoné butted heads — Coulter had called herself the descendant of "settlers" rather than immigrants and asserted that she was, by and large, native to America (which, by the way, is not how it works). 

Symoné hunkered down and said to Coulter, "My mom taught me when I was younger, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. And why do you think it's important to mudsling?" Coulter quickly took offense to Symoné's words and went on the defensive, saying she was there to talk about policy, not identity politics. "Well, I'm at least talking about policy. You have a position on what people's names should be," Coulter said, referencing one of Symoné's previous controversial moments on "The View." The entire exchange went too far and was beyond uncomfortable, but if you like to sit in agony, you can watch it here.

Oh, here we go again with politics. When the damning Mueller report was released, Republican officials jumped to former U.S. President Donald Trump's defense, including his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The women of "The View," of course, weighed in, and some seriously hot takes shared during the conversation resulted in Whoopi Goldberg's leaning toward producers and indicating the need to go to commercial. 

The situation went from bad to worse when co-host Meghan McCain said that she blamed the left as much as the right for the political mess that the country was in after the Mueller report became public. "To say that all Republicans are bad ... there are some decisions [Trump has] made that aren't the end of the world, that Republicans support," McCain said. When co-host Sunny Hostin tried to jump in and share her thoughts on the matter, McCain plowed over her and yelled, "Let me finish!" The two women, from that point, just started arguing over each other, with no tangible point really made at all. Thankfully, Goldberg stepped in and ended the screaming match.

Abortion is always a touchy topic, but the women of "The View" did not hold back their opinions on the matter, leading to an intense argument, to say the least. This occurred during Rosie O'Donnell's time on the show, and she argued tooth and nail with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck about partial birth abortions.

At the time, the issue of abortion was circulating around the Supreme Court, and the panel chose to discuss the ethics behind partial birth abortions. O'Donnell argued that partial birth abortions happened when the baby in question was suffering or when the mother was at risk. Hasselbeck pushed back, saying there was too much gray area around the issue, as she thought some mothers would claim that having a baby would cause "stress," thus allowing them to get a partial birth abortion.

Host Barbara Walters tried to chime in and be the voice of reason, but she couldn't be heard over O'Donnell and Hasselbeck's screaming match. This wasn't the first time that these two hosts butted heads, nor would it be the last.

Get ready for the main event: This fight between former "The View" co-hosts Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck — who later co-hosted a morning talk show on Fox News after leaving "The View" — has gone down in history as one of the most insane and out-of-line arguments in the show's history, and that's saying a lot. You can watch the entire exchange here, but we'll give you the highlights. 

It all started when co-host Joy Behar gave her less-than-praising thoughts on former U.S. President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq, when Hasselbeck chimed in. "They stick by him for not demanding a pullout date for our troops, which is essentially saying to our enemies we don't have any team out there," she said, much to O'Donnell's dismay. The outspoken co-host quickly said, "You just said our enemies in Iraq. Did Iraq attack us?"

Hasselbeck tried to walk back her claim, but it was too late. Both O'Donnell and Hasselbeck started speaking over each other, and things got so bad that instead of going to commercial, the producers split the screen, putting O'Donnell on one side and Hasselbeck on the other — it looked more like an angry political debate rather than a talk show. Not a good look.

"The View" has made a name for itself as the show without a ton of (if any) limitations — every topic of conversation is on the table. So, when the issue of race came up, co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O'Donnell got into it. "I've been Black for 60 years," Goldberg said when talking about systemic racism. "For me, stupidity — there are dumb folks who just say dumb stuff because they're not looking or paying attention to the person they're talking to." When Goldberg didn't concede to the "blanket statement" that the United States is racist, O'Donnell started to lose it.

O'Donnell began sharing her thoughts (loudly, we should add) that politicians operate in a racist system, and that's where things started to go very, very badly. "Listen, you are a white lady telling me what is racist to you," Goldberg clapped back, before O'Donnell said, "You don't have to be Black to know what racism is." Goldberg yelled back, "Yes, you do!" and things just snowballed from there. It is definitely one of the most heated moments in "The View" history.

For a time, Jon and Kate Gosselin were reality television royalty, but when their marriage imploded in a really not cute way, Kate didn't hold back. She came to "The View" as a guest host, and, unfortunately for her, she didn't receive a ton of love from co-host Whoopi Goldberg. When discussing an incident in which she went to her house on Jon's custody day to see her kids, concerned over their babysitter (who may or may not have been romantically involved with Jon at the time), things went downhill — and fast. As such, Kate faced a line of questioning from Goldberg.

Goldberg asked a number of clarifying questions regarding the situation and learned that Kate had called the police because Jon wouldn't let her in. For all intents and purposes, it looked like Goldberg was on Jon's side. "When you go into a custody thing with someone you have your specific time, and you're not supposed to walk on [that]. And I'm sorry that's the law," Goldberg said in a moment that was really awkward. "You could've gone to jail. Do you realize that?" It's safe to say that the moment went a bit too far.

We're back to the topic of abortion, but, this time, it's late-term abortion, a hot topic during the presidential campaign cycle at the time. And, as you can imagine, the topic landed on the table of "The View." This time, co-hosts Meghan McCain and Sunny Hostin essentially got into an old-fashioned screaming match — fair to say that things went way too far — namely in Meghan McCain's criticism of late-term abortions.

Hostin, who is pro-life herself, pushed back at McCain, and tried to counter some of her misleading claims. McCain didn't even let Hostin get a word in, as she by-and-large steamrolled over everything Hostin tried to say. After the show went to commercial break, co-host Joy Behar carved out the space for Hostin to get a word in, but it was McCain who had the last say in this moment. You can watch it all back here.

"The View" really is the gift that keeps on giving, but sometimes things cross the line. Another one of those moments involved co-hosts Meghan McCain and Whoopi Goldberg — arguably the two most vocal hosts of the show.

The conversation began with the co-hosts discussing the #ChallengeAccepted trend, where women were posting black-and-white photos of themselves on social media in a show of solidarity. In response, McCain had some things to say about the movement and women's rights, in general. "As a conservative woman, there's always a level of skepticism because we are never invited into circles, traditionally," McCain said (via Twitter). "In the Women's March, we were literally not invited to join and told to stay home if you're pro-life." Goldberg butted in when McCain said that the founders of the Women's March had anti-Semitic ties, refuting her claim and saying that just one of the founders had a problematic history. Thus, a war of words began between the co-hosts that was, honestly, totally awkward and completely unnecessary.

"The View" has consistently presented multiple perspectives on topical issues, and, for the most part, the show's discussions have been engaging and entertaining. While arguments have happened quite a bit, the hosts and guests have been fairly respectful of each other, in most cases. But things went too far when personal attacks plagued one conversation — specifically when co-host Meghan McCain called co-host Joy Behar a "b**ch."

After talking about former U.S. President Donald Trump's base of supporters, Behar pushed McCain to clarify what she meant when she said that Trump's supporters "hate[d] the same things Trump hates." Here's where things went wrong. "I really come here every day open-minded just trying to explain it, and it's not a fun job for me every day," McCain said. The conversation only escalated from there, and McCain ended up calling herself the "sacrificial Republican" on the show. Behar groaned in response, to which McCain said, "Oh, don't feel bad for me, b**ch. I'm paid to do this, okay." The audience audibly reacted, and it's safe to say that this was not a good look.

Donald Trump and "The View" make for a bad combination, but, nevertheless, the former U.S. president was a guest star on the show in 2011, where he discussed (no surprise here) then-President Barack Obama's birth certificate. First and foremost, when asked if he was a "birther," Trump said that he was "a really good student at the best school," somehow thinking that presenting his credentials was a good first step.

As Trump continued questioning Obama's citizenship, co-host Whoopi Goldberg looked visibly uncomfortable, before asking the guest if political figures such as George Bush would be asked the same questions about their citizenship — alluding to the issue of racism within the birther movement. When Trump flat out said that if Obama did not show his birth certificate, it was because he had something to hide, Goldberg called his claim the "biggest pile of dog mess" she'd heard. "I've never heard any white president asked to show their birth certificate," she continued, getting even more agitated by Trump's remarks. In hindsight, the exchange is almost too cringeworthy to watch.

To round out a cringeworthy and dramatic list of moments from "The View," we have to talk about the time that co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck cried over a conversation about the controversial "n" word. The argument started when Hasselbeck said that it was worse to use the racial slur privately than publicly, a statement to which her co-hosts fought her on. Co-host Sherri Shepherd chimed in when Hasselbeck said that the word was "bad," saying, "Don't tell me I can't use that word."

Hasselbeck responded to Shepherd with the very controversial statement, "So you're telling me that I can't use it, but you can." When Hasselbeck followed up, saying that she would never use the word in the first place, co-host Whoopi Goldberg chimed in. "This is a word that has meaning when you give it meaning," Goldberg said. "You have to understand that it's a word that's followed us around." Things got so bad that Hasselbeck said it was "upsetting" to her and started tearing up. This was one head-shaking conversation that took place on the series — adding to the ever-growing list — that really did go too far.