The View hosts tackled The Crown on Tuesday (8 December), debating whether or not Netflix's historical programme should post a disclaimer before each episode.
While Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin feltThe Crown didn't need disclaimers because it's “not a documentary”, Joy Behar and Sara Haines felt differently.
"They should be more responsible, frankly, because these people are still alive," said Behar. "You have to be careful."
The Crown season 4, which chronicles the early stages of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer's marriage, not to mention his longtime affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, has polarised audiences, many of whom are old enough to remember when the depicted events actually transpired.
The real-life Prince Charles and Parker Bowles, who have been married since 2005, have been getting a lot of hate messages via social media as a result.
UK government officials have asked Netflix to post a fictionalised disclaimer prior to each episode, but the streaming platform has refused to comply, saying it has "no plans" to do so.
"Well, you know, ducky," said Behar in an exaggerated British accent. "It is a very good idea to at least inform the public that this is not an alternative fact show. Alright? Because it’s enough that we’ve had alternative facts for the past four years.
"[Prince Charles is] going to be the next king," Behar continued. "He is. [The Queen is] going to die at some point, right? In this kind of thing, there are a lot of people who think it’s a documentary."
Haines agreed, arguing that in 2020 especially, "people need to hear that it’s a work of fiction. It doesn’t hurt the work at all or the creative process to just slap a disclaimer to make sure there’s no confusion that this is a work of fiction."
"They did say that it was a work of fiction that's broadly based on historical fact," counter-argued Hostin, who continued to point out that, although fictionalised, a lot of what The Crown has portrayed is – like it or not –based in fact.
"I saw an interview where Diana said that there were three people in the marriage," she said, referring to Princess Diana’s 1995 interview with Martin Bashir. "So that came from Diana’s mouth. So, it does seem to me that a lot of the stuff The Crown is covering does seem to have occurred."
