There’s no questioning the popularity of The View on ABC, but it certainly hasn’t been the easiest gig for some of its co-hosts. Many people including Jenny McCarthy and Candace Cameron Bure have spoken out about having less-than-ideal (to put it mildly) experiences, and now former ESPN anchor Sage Steele, who served as a guest host several times, has shared her opinion. Steele absolutely obliterated the Emmy-winning daytime talk show, calling it “despicable” and explaining why she would never be part of its cast.
Sage Steele’s comments came in a conversation with Bill Maher on his podcast Club Random. As they discussed sports and politics, the host suggested that The View might be a good outlet for her opinions, to which the ex-SportsCenter anchor strongly replied:
Hell no. I’ve been on The View and it didn’t go so well, because you know what? At The View, they don’t want your view. They only want theirs and they’re bullshit.
Sage Steele said she had been a guest host on the program four times, and she’d auditioned at one point when they were making changes to the co-hosting lineup. Clearly she did not have a positive experience discussing Hot Topics with the other women, as she continued:
They are 100% full of it. They don’t want to hear your view if you think differently than they do, and they are fine telling lies on that stage and that set. Because they know that if someone calls them on it, then they are just going to talk over them and have the audience clap and go to break.
It sounds like perhaps it was Barbara Walters who may have caused Sage Steele the most frustration during her appearances, as she said the panel at the time consisted of Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd. Goldberg was “very nice” to her, she said, and “Barbara, whatever, the other three were great.” The sports anchor seemed to appreciate the spirit of the show that Walters created in 1997, but she said she didn’t like what it has become. In Steele’s words:
The show to me is despicable, and it makes me sad because the potential for 20-some years — I respect the length they’ve done it — but the potential is incredible, and they ruined it.
It makes sense that Sage Steele would take issue with a show where she didn’t feel she was allowed to speak her mind. The former SportsCenter host left ESPN in August following the settlement of a free speech lawsuit she had filed against the network and the Walt Disney Co. In April 2022 she took legal action against the company for allegedly retaliating against her following comments she made on a podcast about COVID vaccine mandates, Barack Obama’s race and harassment in the workplace.
However, she’s far from the first person to speak negatively about their time on The View. Jenny McCarthy, who was a co-host from 2013-2014, compared working with Barbara Walters to a horror movie, and Candace Cameron Bure said she had PTSD following her stint on the talk show from 2015-2016.
I guess if any of those rumors of a major exit turn out to be true, we know who won’t be filling a chair. You can catch The View every weekday morning on ABC and also check out our 2023 TV schedule to keep up with what shows are starting soon.