Disney boss Bob Iger and ABC News chief Almin Karamehmedovic have asked the hosts of The View to tone down the political rhetoric on the show, according to a new report by The Daily Beast.
Considering the panelists of the long-running daytime talk show have been outspoken critics of Donald Trump for years now, and that criticism has only ramped up since the president returned to the White House. The request would in effect mean cooling the anti-Trump tenor of the show and potentially sparking backlash among its liberal audience.
It would appear, at least for the moment, that the calls for a less politically charged show have yet to take hold. Thursday’s program, for instance, kicked off with a segment focused on Trump’s off-the-rails Oval Office meeting with the South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, which featured the president going on a rant about the baseless “white genocide” conspiracy theory.
According to the Beast, Karamehmedovic called a meeting with the show’s five hosts – Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin – and executive producer Brian Teta, suggesting “the panel needed to broaden its conversations beyond its predominant focus on politics.”
During the meeting, he pointed out a number of recent episodes with celebrity guests that drew higher ratings, urging the show to lean into that type of coverage more.
“The move was not framed as an edict, one source said, but the suggestion alone rankled the hosts,” the Beast noted. “The group pushed back forcefully, with hosts like Navarro noting the show’s audience routinely seeks out its perspective on politics, especially when the administration’s radical attempts to upend the government can potentially affect their daily lives.”
In the end, the hosts found the request “silly” and said they were just going to do what they’ve been doing moving forward. Essentially, they felt it would “look kind of bad” to their audience if they “all of a sudden” stopped talking about politics.
One source familiar with the matter stressed to The Independent that there was really nothing out of character with this particular meeting, noting that the network “constantly has conversations with talent based on viewer feedback, and this instance was no different.”
“This is not about talking about Trump. It's about balance in the show on topics,” the source added. “This conversation is really about making sure there's just balance in the show.”
Still, even though the meeting wasn’t framed as an edict, and the panel has continued to focus intently on political topics while covering Trump in their typically critical fashion, it remained a sticking point for at least one of the co-hosts.
Navarro, a GOP strategist and CNN commentator who has carved out a niche for herself as a vocal Never Trump Republican, directly spoke to Iger during Disney’s recent upfront advertiser presentation.
“Navarro thanked Iger for allowing the hosts to continue doing their jobs in a politically turbulent environment”, the sources said. Iger confirmed he supported the show—but he also reaffirmed that the show needed to tone down its political rhetoric,” the Beast reported, adding: “The conversation made clear the suggestion to tone down the politics went all the way to the top.”
Navarro and representatives for Disney did not respond to requests for comment. ABC News declined to comment.
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While the executives’ efforts to pare down the political segments on The View could be nothing more than the standard corporate push to broaden a program’s appeal, these discussions will obviously be viewed through the lens of Trump’s war against legacy media outlets – including ABC News and Disney.
Following Trump’s electoral victory last November, Disney agreed to settle his lawsuit against ABC News over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ interview with Nancy Mace, which featured Stephanoupolous mischaracterizing a verdict that found Trump liable for sexual abuse. Trump received $15 million for his presidential library, a million dollars for legal fees, and a note from ABC expressing “regret” over the claims.
While legal analysts were split on the merits of Trump’s defamation claims against ABC, First Amendment experts warned that Disney’s capitulation would have a “chilling effect” on the media going forward. “Many in free press circles are holding their breath,” one expert told The Independent at the time. “There is concern that we are embarking on some scary times.”
The president is also in talks with Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, to settle his $20 billion lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris that legal experts have called frivolous and the network itself has deemed “completely without merit.”
Tensions within the network over the potential settlement, which Paramount's top shareholder Shari Redstone is pushing as the company seeks the Trump administration’s approval for a merger with Skydance, have resulted in the resignations of CBS News chief Wendy McMahon and 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens.
McMahon and Owens made it clear they would not apologize for the interview as part of any settlement with the president. Meanwhile, it’s been reported that Paramount is willing to pay the president as much as $50 million to make the lawsuit go away.
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