The ABC show The View has been struggling to replace conservative co-host Meghan McCain after she parted ways with the show this year.
One of the biggest problems for the show is that they want a conservative that can disagree with them on politics, but not on reality. It’s a characteristic that a former staffer said was like “looking for a unicorn.”
The Daily Beast reported that the network had hoped to bring on Lisa Marie Boothe, according to a source close to Boothe. But the conversations stopped once she made it clear that she wouldn’t get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“An ABC News source confirmed to The Daily Beast that the network had conversations with Boothe, among ‘dozens and dozens’ of candidates,” said the report. “The show never had an opportunity to offer her a guest-hosting spot or book a potential date. And once Boothe’s stance on vaccinations became apparent, the source said, further conversation became a ‘moot point’ and a ‘non-starter’ due to the network’s strict policies.”
ABC’s parent company, Disney, requires U.S. employees to be vaccinated.
Even if that weren’t the case, the women of The View have taken the virus seriously. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg had a difficult case of pneumonia in 2018 that ended with her going to the hospital. It was found that she also had sepsis, making the illnesses so intense that she told “The View” audience she, “came very, very close to leaving the Earth.”
Fellow co-host Joy Behar left the show early on in the 2020 pandemic because at 77-years-old, she said she can’t afford to get the virus.
So, the idea that Boothe would join the show as an anti-vaxxer would put her colleagues in danger, making it a non-starter. The decision for her also wasn’t based on any medical problems that Boothe could have that would preclude her from being vaccinated. Speaking on Fox, she confessed it was all political. Saying she wouldn’t get the shot “as a giant middle finger to Joe Biden’s tyranny.”
She isn’t the first conservative on “The View” to come up against the same barrier. When former Fox and View host Jedediah Bila appeared on the show in November, she had to tape her appearance from a remote location because she refuses to get vaccinated.
It led to a battle online when co-hosts like Sunny Hostin, whose husband is a doctor, accused Bila of twisting information. Bila said that the vaccines were only created to prevent the severity of illness and it doesn’t stop anyone from getting COVID or spreading it. The vaccine was actually created to prevent people from dying from the virus. Afterward, Bila played the victim, saying that she was “ambushed” with a “pre-planned” attack.
Read the full report at The Daily Beast.