Meghan McCain has no desire to host The View alongside Elisabeth Hasselbeck ever again after the comments she made last month regarding the novel coronavirus. During her video conference appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Wednesday, McCain cringed when asked about Hasselbeck saying people should “pray” the pandemic virus away during her guest appearance on The View, March 11.
“Somebody actually sent me a screenshot of my face when she said that,” she said. ” I took this virus seriously from the very beginning and I thought a lot of this rhetoric was really dangerous. I think it’s really, really unfortunate and dangerous that she said that.”
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Added McCain, who represents the more politically conservative viewpoint on the morning show panel, “I don’t need to co-host with her again, and it’s unfortunate, because I’ve been a huge fan for a long time. Anybody who is screwing around with this virus and putting out misinformation, I don’t really have a lot of time for right now.”
Hasselbeck returned to the panel for the first episode in which The View taped without an audience due to fears about COVID-19. The show, much like many other live series, is now being taped virtually from home. Hassebeck said of the virus at the time, “I think there can be a fine line between what is precaution, what is taking precaution, and what is panic. Yes, we’re going to take precautions, we’re going to Purell, pray that God’s got us in our tomorrows. We pray that this coronavirus is extinguished, that it stops in its tracks.”
She also sparked a tense discussion with her fellow hosts at the time by praising President Donald Trump’s “leadership” in the face of the global health crisis, which the other panelists disagreed with. Hasselbeck added, “I think we should prepare. I think we should pray. I’m not going to let coronavirus rule me. …We’re going to use Purell, wash our hands, we’re going to be okay, guys!”
As of Friday, the coronavirus had infected more than 2.7 million people across the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine Resource Center, including more than 869,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. alone. There have been at least 191,231 deaths attributed to the virus worldwide.
