When Rosie O'Donnell exited The View after her first hosting run, Whoopi Goldberg was brought in to replace her as moderator. The year was 2007 and O'Donnell just had a very public fight with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck live on air.
However, O'Donnell would return to The View in 2014. She shared the stage with Goldberg, but it didn't exactly go according to plan. O'Donnell left for a second time in 2015 and has since spoken about her struggle to get along with Goldberg.
The tension was on full display during one episode in 2015 as the ladies were having a debate about racism. The situation led to a screaming match live on air.
Jenny McCarthy Said Whoopi Refused To Let Barbara Moderate The Panel During Her Final Week
Jenny McCarthy opened up to Ramin Setoodeh for his 2019 book "Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View."
McCarthy said that she was hired to help steer the show's topics away from politics and toward pop culture. She also revealed there was some competition between Goldberg and Barbara Walters. According to McCarthy, Walters wanted to moderate the panel during her final week before retirement, but Goldberg wouldn't give up her spot.
"The table reminds me a little bit of Survivor. There was a war between Barbara and Whoopi about Barbara wanting to moderate. This is one of the reasons I decided not to ally with Whoopi. It broke my heart when Barbara would shuffle to Whoopi and say, ‘Can I moderate please?’ And Whoopi would say no," McCarthy said. "How can you do this to a woman who paved the way for so many female journalists? The reason we’re doing this job is because of Barbara Walters."
McCarthy added that Goldberg had an intimidating presence and controlled everyone at the table.
"People don’t understand. Whoopi can knock over anyone in a debate. Her voice is not only strong in meaning but in sound. I wasn’t going to play a kiss ass. To me, Whoopi had an addiction to controlling people’s thoughts, their words, the room, the table, your feeling, your mood," she said. "She had an addiction to controlling all of it and everybody."
Rosie Returned To 'The View' And Got On Whoopi Goldberg's Bad Side
O'Donnell made her return to The View in 2014. While speaking to Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM show Radio Andy, O'Donnell reflected on her second run as co-host.
O'Donnell said that she went to Goldberg's house and asked if her returning to the show would be okay. O'Donnell believed the show would be a team effort and was shocked to discover Goldberg saw the situation quite differently.
"I thought we were gonna be like, you know, Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan, passing the ball back. Throwing the layups up," she said. "I don’t have a real competitive side with other women. I wanna support other women. I wanna try to help other women. So, um, it got off to the wrong foot. Like, one of the first days, the camera guys were going, 'Cut, go to commercial' and she was still talking. And then there was, like, a little brief period where she took a breath or something and I said, 'Listen, we’ll get to that right after this one, we’ll be right back' and she was not having it."
Whoopi And Rosie Got Into A Heated Argument About Racism During Hot Topics
When O'Donnell spoke to Howard Stern in 2020, she said the tension between her and Goldberg was palpable on air.
"When people say, 'Well, what happened?' I say, 'Go back and watch them.' It's not like a mystery. Watch the way it went down, and I don't need to say anything," O'Donnell said.
One of the most extreme examples came in 2015 when O'Donnell debated with Goldberg, Laverne Cox, Rosie Perez, and Nicolle Wallace about racism in America. Goldberg said she didn't believe America was a racist country, something that O'Donnell, Cox, and Perez all opposed.
"Whoopi saying there was no racism in America to me and I was like how do I argue this with her on television?" O'Donnell recalled when speaking on The Clay Cane Show.
"I couldn’t believe that came out of her mouth. I was kind of shocked on a daily basis and it seemed as though whatever I said she wanted to say the opposite, it didn’t matter what it was, even something as basic as, ‘Yes, [this is a racist country.]’ A Black woman in America. Older than me, how’s that possible? I didn’t understand it."
The exchange led to both Goldberg and O'Donnell yelling at each other, with O'Donnell exclaiming, "You don't have to be Black to know what racism is!" Goldberg responded, "Yes you do!"
O'Donnell later told The New Yorker that she got a call from her doctor after that argument aired.
"My heart doctor said, 'I watch you, and they have a closeup of you, and I can see your carotid artery.' And I had a heart attack at 50, so this doctor was, like, 'Do you think you need this stress? I mean, do you need the money?' I was, like, 'No, I don't.'"
It was then that O'Donnell decided to leave the show once again. O'Donnell told Stern that she later crossed paths with Goldberg at a Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman concert. After saying hello, the maître d' offered them a table for two. O'Donnell declined the offer, as she was meeting actress Ally Sheedy. According to O'Donnell, Goldberg looked at her and said, "Would it be that bad?"
