Jenny McCarthy revealed ABC producers wanted her to "act Republican" during her stint as a co-host on daytime talk show The View. McCarthy recalled her experience on the award-winning show while appearing on Watch What Happens Live! on Tuesday night.
McCarthy said former co-host Barbara Walters, who served as the executive producer of the talk show, requested her to take on a Republican persona to shake up the opinions offered on the show. "When I was on there, it was really hilarious because they initially had me come on to be the pop culture girl because they wanted to change [the show format]," McCarthy said.
"And then Barbara didn't know who anybody was pop culture wise, and then they came in my dressing room and said, 'Can you just act Republican so we can have another point of view?'" she continued. "And I said, 'How do I act Republican?' Then they figured out how to get a Republican."
The actor was brought on the show after the exit of conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck for the 2013-2014 season. She appeared on the show with Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O'Donnell and Sherri Shephard, who also left The View in June 2014.
This isn't the first time McCarthy has hinted at her political affiliation being the reason behind her exit from the show. Shortly after her departure in 2014, McCarthy told Howard Stern she would "still be there right now" if she "was a Republican."
"I'll tell you something, Howard, it's like halfway into it, it was probably around February, I went, 'God, I'm not allowed to be the best of me here.' I feel like to have a voice, to be able to speak without having to interrupt people, it's very difficult, and I don't like doing it. It's very uncomfortable, so I felt like, 'You know what? Maybe this is just a stepping stone for me to go somewhere where I can actually be my full self,'" she explained.
The View went through rounds of actual conservative replacements before settling on Meghan McCain, an outspoken Republican who is also the daughter of the late Republican Senator John McCain.
McCarthy praised Meghan McCain's addition to the roundtable in 2017 on Tuesday. "I love her on The View," she told WWHL host Andy Cohen. "In order to be The View, you need different sides."
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