Meghan McCain Reportedly Leaving ‘The View’

After four years at the discussion table, Meghan McCain is reportedly leaving The View. According to a new report from the Daily Mail, McCain, who still has two years left in her contract, will announce her departure on Thursday’s episode of the long-running talk show, with her final appearance allegedly set to occur “at the end of July 2021.” Although ABC has so far declined to comment, PEOPLE separately confirmed the report.

A Disney source told the outlet that McCain “will announce her resignation on Thursday’s show.” The source said, “we have tried to keep her, but she is adamant that now is the right time for her to leave.” According to the source, McCain’s The View co-hosts – Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Ana Navarro – “are not yet aware that Meghan has resigned.” The source did not hint as to what may have led McCain to her decision to exit the talk show, though her departure would come a little more than a year after she and husband Ben Domenech welcomed their first child together, daughter Liberty, and amid ongoing calls for her to be fired.

Throughout her four-year tenure on The View, the conservative co-host has often found herself in controversy. In June, she faced backlash for calling Vice President Kamala Harris a “moron,” and just a month prior to that, TMZ reported that McCain “stormed out” of a meeting called by ABC News President Kim Godwin to raise concerns about the culture on the talk show. The meeting was allegedly called amid concerns that the talent was “coming off as toxic to the audience” and was said to have been prompted by a clash between McCain and Behar. In January 2020, a Change.org petition was created asking ABC to replace McCain with another panelist. The petition, one of many, garnered thousands of signatures.

If the Daily Mail‘s report is correct, McCain would be walking back her vow earlier this year to not leave the talk show anytime in the near future. During a January appearance on Watch What Happens Live, McCain told host, Andy Cohen, she was “not going anywhere.”

“Because whether we like it or not, I’m not going anywhere on the show, Joy’s not going anywhere on the show, we all have to live and co-exist together just like Americans right now,” she said, adding, “which is a little deeper of an answer, but we’re all going to try and co-exist and I really want to have us all move forward.”

McCain joined the ABC talk show in October 2017 during its 21st season following former The View co-host Jedediah Bila’s exit. Prior to joining the talk show, McCain was a columnist for The Daily Beast, a Fox News host, and an MSNBC contributor.