The hosts of The View have been urged to tone down their anti-Trump political rhetoric by bosses at ABC News and its parent company, Disney.
The often antagonistic rhetoric from the all-female line-up has generated concern among network executives, according to reports.
Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive, and Almin Karamehmedovic, the president of ABC News, held a meeting with the show’s executive producer and hosts, including Whoopi Goldberg to express their concerns, according to The Daily Beast.
Mr Karamehmedovic said that episodes which did not focus on politics still generated high ratings.
His plea was not well received, with the hosts dismissing the request as “silly”.
“This is what our audience wants. Isn’t it gonna look kind of bad if we’re all of a sudden not talking about politics?” one of the hosts reportedly responded.
Whoopi Goldberg speaks on The View about Donald Trump’s claims of white South Africans being persecuted – ABC News
The View has made little secret of its political leaning.
Kamala Harris, whose media appearances were carefully controlled during last year’s election, chose the show for one of her first live broadcast interviews after being parachuted in as the Democratic presidential candidate.
The View co-host, Joy Behar recently opined on what she described as “Trump’s atrocities” during a taping.
“Should I list them? Here’s Trump’s atrocities.
“This is what we’re concerned about now: cutting Medicaid, slashing funding for cancer research, slashing funding because of tariffs, dismantling USAid, which helps children who are poor around the world, destroying due process, ending birthright citizenship.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, meanwhile, suggested Mr Trump should take the citizenship exam required of immigrants seeking US nationality.
“Number one, what is the supreme law of the land? The constitution, not Donald Trump.”
Hosts of The View. The show has made little secret of its political leaning – ABC News
The network intervention comes against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s renewed scrutiny of the media.
Sources at the station insisted discussions with presenters take place frequently and this conversation focused on the balance of political and non-political topics.
In March, the Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation into Disney’s and ABC’s diversity policies, alleging that they potentially violated US equal employment regulations.
And in December, shortly after Mr Trump won the presidential election, ABC settled a lawsuit with him.
It agreed to pay $15 million to Mr Trump’s future presidential library after being sued over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos, who claimed Mr Trump had been found “liable for rape” when he was successfully sued by magazine columnist E Jean Carroll.
The court had found him liable for sexual assault, not rape.
ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos falsely claimed Donald Trump had been found ‘liable for rape’ – Lorenzo Bevilaqua/2021 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
In recent days, the president has threatened to sue ABC again, this time over its coverage of his decision to accept the gift of a $400 million jet from Qatar.
“Why doesn’t chairman Bob Iger do something about ABC fake news, especially since I just won $16,000,000 based on the fake and defamatory reporting of liddle’ George Slopadopolus,” he wrote on his Truth Social media channel.
ABC is not the only outlet in Mr Trump’s crosshairs.
He is also suing CBS and Paramount Global for $20 billion over an interview it conducted with Ms Harris, claiming the show was deceptively edited to show his election opponent in a better light.
The company, which once dismissed the writ as without merit, is reportedly negotiating a settlement. Critics believe the peace moves have been initiated by parent company Paramount to ensure it gets the Trump administration’s approval for its planned merger with Skydance.
ABC News and Disney have been approached for comment.
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