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Kathie Lee Gifford took aim at the current hosts of The View over what she perceived as a turn toward 'viciousness' in a new interview.
The 72-year-old morning show veteran claimed Monday on the Tomi Lahren Is Fearless podcast that the long-running talk show has become far more divisive than it was under earlier hosts.
Lahren, a conservative commentator, cued up the topic when she asked Gifford if she thought people were more divided now than in the past.
'There’s just more of us — and we’re meaner now,' Gifford said. 'People at least would pretend to have some manners [in the past]. Now, there’s a viciousness.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for The View for comment.
The series, which began airing in 1997, is currently hosted by Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro.
Kathie Lee Gifford, 72, took aim at the current hosts of The View over what she perceived as a turn toward 'viciousness' on Monday's episode of the Tomi Lahren Is Fearless podcast. She claimed the long-running talk show is more divisive than it was under earlier hosts; pictured in 2024 in Franklin, Tennessee
Lahren asked Gifford if she thought people were more divided now. 'There’s just more of us — and we’re meaner now,' Gifford said. 'People at least would pretend to have some manners [in the past]. Now, there’s a viciousness'; The View hosts (L–R) Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Whoopi Goldberg are pictured
Behar has co-hosted the series since its inaugural season, though she left the show for two seasons beginning in 2013.
Goldberg is the other senior co-host, having been part of the program for nearly two decades after joining in 2007.
Haines and Hostin both joined the series in 2016, while Griffin and Navarro were added to the lineup in 2022.
While speaking with Lahren, Gifford recalled a time years ago when she claimed to have had good experiences joining The View as a guest.
'I mean, I used to be able to go on The View and talk to Joy [Behar] and Whoopi [Goldberg] and a lot of the other people there — Debbie Matenopoulos and I are still good pals — and never had a problem, you know, with anybody because they weren’t trying to … I don’t proselytize everything.'
'I share my faith, but I don’t say, "You’re going to go to hell if you don’t." I don’t do that, you know?' Gifford continued.
'I want people to have a little bit more heaven in their life than hell,' she added.
Lahren then quizzed Gifford on whether she could still feel welcome on The View, but the former Today Show host said it was 'sad' how the show had been overwhelmed by 'viciousness.'
Griffin claimed she used to be have solid interactions with The View's hosts when she made guest appearances years earlier, but she said it was 'sad' how the show had been overcome by 'viciousness' in recent years; pictured on the Today Show with Hoda Kotb
'I mean, everybody seems like they’re just miserable people now,' Gifford said of the ladies of The View. 'I may make people miserable just talking the way we’re talking, but nobody will ever confuse me with a miserable person, right?'
One of the show's biggest critics has been a former co-host, Meghan McCain. She previously singled out Joy Behar's nasty comments about not missing her during her maternity leave in 2021 as the reason she left the show; pictured with her late father Senator John McCain in 2017
'I mean, everybody seems like they’re just miserable people now,' Gifford said. 'I may make people miserable just talking the way we’re talking, but nobody will ever confuse me with a miserable person, right?'
Then she claimed to have 'joy personified.'
Some of the most vocal criticism of The View over the years has come from a former insider, Meghan McCain, who co-hosted the talk show from 2017 to 2021.
The conservative commenter and daughter of the late Republican Senator John McCain had a reputation for pushing back against the more liberal politics of her colleagues.
'People really love fighting with me and I've come to terms with the fact that people love me and love to hate me,' Meghan admitted in a 2021 interview with the Daily Mail. 'I really have gotten to a place where I'm comfortable with that.'
In a 2022 appearance on the Commentary Magazine Podcast, McCain said that she decided to leave The View in response to a nasty comment from Behar about her maternity leave.
After Behar had chastised McCain for interrupting her, McCain had joked, 'You missed me so much, Joy. You missed me so much when I was on maternity leave. You missed me so much. You missed fighting with me.'
Behar coldly replied, 'I did not. I did not miss you. Zero.'
McCain told Commentary that after the comment exemplified her treatment on The View.
'I didn’t feel supported when I had my baby, and I didn’t feel supported coming back, and that was ultimately it,' she said. 'That was why I left!'
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