The View has certainly been a hot-button topic recently, especially after it was revealed how Jenny McCarthy was treated poorly by Barbara Walters. Since then, stories have been pouring out about how the hosts treated each other, and it's become clear that the animosity certainly wasn't limited to the discussion table.
One of the most recently revealed arguments was between Walters and her then-co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The topic of conversation was about the FDA proposing to allow the morning-after pill for over-the-counter consumption. Hasselbeck was against the pill, saying it was "the same thing as birthing a baby and leaving it out in the street," and that it was a "slippery slope to eliminating life."
When other co-hosts would try to voice their opinions, Hasselbeck refused to let them. It got to the point where Walters had to step in.
"Could you stop now?" Walters said. "We have to go on and we have to learn how to discuss these things in some sort of rational way."
The program then cut to commercial break, but not before Hasselbeck ripped up her cue cards and stormed off the stage. During commercial break, Hasselbeck went off on Walters, and threatened to quit the show right then and there. A recording of the outburst was released, and it's pretty crazy.
"F"” that!" she screamed. "I'm not going to sit there and get reprimanded on the air. It's not okay to sit there and get reprimanded on the air. What the f"”? I'm not going back out there."
Joy Behar had to come and try to calm Hasselbeck down, but the former Survivor contestant wasn't having it.
"What the f"”! I don't even swear. She has me swearing. This woman is driving me nuts," she said. "This woman is driving me nuts. I'm not going back. I can't do the show like this. She just reprimanded me, and she knew exactly what she was doing. Good-bye! I'm off. Write about that in the New York F"”ING Post!"
Hasselbeck ended up hiding in a stairwell, and when Walters heard the news that she had quit, she wasn't having it.
"Well, that's ridiculous," Walters said.
It took producers coaxing Hasselbeck for her to return, and obviously she retracted her resignation, as she continued to be on the show. The argument was in 2006, and Hasselbeck didn't leave The View in 2013.
When she did return to the stage, her and Walters had a touching, if not a little bit forced, moment.
"The wonderful thing about this show is that we can have discussions that we feel very emotional about," Walters said. "And we respect your opinions. I love your passion."
"Thank you," Hasselbeck said. "I respect yours as well. I love being here with you guys. I want to be able to be passionate."
Hasselbeck responded to the release of the recording on her Instagram page, addressing her use of foul language more than anything else.
This. Just. In: Yes-There were times when I was quite humanly reactive. I used a bad word when frustrated. I was pregnant with Taylor and a big conversation about the value and the lives of the unborn took place at the View. It was a battle -but not of the flesh.I used fighting words because I believe that God decides the value of the lives of babies. We care for a group of Robin's eggs in a nest before they are hatched and likely would think twice before stomping on the awesome blue shells because we know what God placed inside the hard womb.
And in the heat of the moment, when I felt the need to protect what I knew to be truth and had seen with my own eyes on ultrasound the LIFE in my own shell of a body- I used big battle words (one in particular that I am not proud of and am sorry for using in the heat of trying to defend the lives of the unborn).
2 things I have grown to learn:
1) there are words that DISTRACT from your point: Choose wisely
2) I have a God who fights the battle. I don't have to do that all on my own. God has changed my ways. He has given me a new thing - it is my heart. He literally did that and I wrote a lot about it in #PointOfViewBook and I boast of plenty of failure and imperfection there.
I still hold all my Constitutionally protected rights to freedom of faith : but now: I can hold the hand of the person who does not agree at the same time 💕💕💕💕 because I believe that we can do that by His grace.
hold truth and hold grace as best we can.
BY HIS POWER. In my weakness I am made strong. My new word that begins with the letter F: FAITHFUL Because that is who GOD IS
Hasselbeck didn't mention Walters or the argument directly, simply stating that she was "humanly reactive." It's interesting that she wouldn't even give an apology for being so harsh towards Walters, which pretty much says she doesn't regret her reaction at all.
I can understand why Hasselbeck would be upset, but I think Walters was right. She should have let others voice their opinion without making a scene.
[H/T: Variety]