Sunny Hostin, 53, shared her thoughts on the “very complicated” Meghan McCain, 37, and her exit from The View in an interview with The Cut, published on Nov. 11. “I think she thinks that people did not like her or treated her a certain way because of her opinions,” Sunny, who has been on the ABC daytime program since 2016, said about Meghan, who quit the show in July 2021 after four seasons as a co-host. Following her exit, Meghan slammed the talk show for being “toxic” in her recent audiobook, Bad Republican.
“I certainly don’t share any of her opinions … at all … about anything,” Sunny said in the interview. “But I don’t feel that way about her. I can’t claim to understand her because I think she’s very complicated. Her experience is her experience. No one can say that she didn’t experience it in that way because it’s hers. I didn’t see it that way. I didn’t experience it the way she did. But I’m going to defer to her that she experienced it like that.”
In the wake of Meghan’s exit, Sunny is now one of four permanent co-hosts on the show — the others being Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Sara Haines. The show has welcomed conservative guest co-hosts as they suss out who will replace Meghan for good. “Right now, we still do need a really conservative voice,” Sunny said, when looking towards the future of The View. “I also believe it’s really important to not have someone on the panel who spreads misinformation, who adheres to the big lies, who is an anti-vaxxer, because I think that’s dangerous,” the legal analyst added.
During Meghan’s tenure at The View, she was no stranger to sparking some controversy here and there, often getting into it with co-hosts Whoopi and Joy. In her book, Meghan said that “the treatment” from some of her co-hosts and the staff amidst the Trump presidency “grew meaner and less forgiving.” “It felt like the co-hosts and staff only knew one Republican — me — and took out all their anger on me, even though I didn’t even vote for Trump.”
Since releasing Bad Republican, Meghan has spoken about the state of her relationship with her ex co-hosts. On Watch What Happens Live, the Arizona native said she and Sunny “still talk.” Megan also said she has “nothing but respect” for Whoopi, calling the actress “an American icon.”