Throughout the first week of November, ABC News’s The View used their Behind the Table podcast to vent about all the criticism they were receiving about their staunch stance of rejecting conservative guests who would give the co-hosts a hard time. The View started receiving flak after co-host Joy Behar declared that conservatives were “afraid of us,” and has dismissed all their new challengers as not meeting the “certain caliber of guest” the show was used to having.
On Tuesday’s podcast episode, executive producer Brian Teta and co-host Joy Behar were discussing the interview they had just concluded with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who they tried to recruit to become a Democrat. Behar said that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) should coming on the show or maybe Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). “We're asking people to come on now,” she boasted.
But, as NewsBusters exclusively reported in 2023, The View thrice rejected requests from the Senator to make an appearance on the show despite being on the show multiple times. It might have had something to do with Cruz’s last appearance when came on set with a literal pocket full of recipes to call out their hypocrisy and bias.
Teta went on to lament Behar’s “afraid of us” declaration because he and the other producers were swamped with requests challenging her notion. While mocking how conservative “got very worked up,” the pair claimed the requests they were receiving were from nobodies and random Republicans from around the country (Click “expand”):
TETA: Everyone got very worked up and a lot of people you've never heard of kept saying like, ‘Well, I tried to get on and we can't get on the show.’
BEHAR: We’re talking about people who are actually in the center of Washington politics right now.
TETA: Yeah, people that we talk about in Hot Topics, people that are –
BEHAR: Not some Harry Fiduche who has a little business going in Sheboygan and he happens to be a Republican. That’s not what we’re looking for.
TETA: Right. No, it's not that we can't have any Republican to come on, it's the people that are in power that we want to talk to. Um, but, uh, yeah, but yeah, every time you say something I get 400 calls.
On The View's podcast, EP Brian Teta whines about conservatives getting "very worked up" and calling them out for rejecting their requests to come on the show.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) November 7, 2025
"We're talking about people who are actually in the center of Washington politics, right now," Behar huffed, as she… pic.twitter.com/fTabHxTrlJ
Their dismissal of the guest requests based on quality was a refrain that was repeated on Wednesday’s episode between Teta and co-hosts Sara Haines and Sunny Hostin. Together, they mocked those requesting to appear on the show as nobodies who don’t live up to the “certain caliber of guest” they normally have on (Click “expand”):
HOSTIN: I hope so. I mean, if Marjorie Taylor Green can sit with all of us, anyone can.
TETA: And it’s not like – Listen, people like to say, you know, we don't have other people on. When you go through the names we've had on -
HAINES: Oh wait, but Brian, first, one of the things after we talked about having other voices on. What made me laugh is there were people that you mentioned and then I'd mention, and you'd go "Who?" And you're like "That's the point." The View still has a certain caliber of guest. Just because you're conservative and you have some podcast and people listen to you, does not mean you're going to be invited to sit at the table.
“We have people that mean something to our audience and are part of the hot topics we're talking about,” Teta argued. “We want to have conversations with the people that we're talking about.”
Teta and co-host Sara Haines mock the conservatives who have requested to come on and have been rejected (Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Byron Donalds, Riley Gaines, and many more) as not fitting the "caliber of guests" they have on the show:
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) November 7, 2025
TETA: People like to say, you know, we don't… pic.twitter.com/MbiSh08B4F
But again, as NewsBusters reported, rejected requests came from Cruz, Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL), female rights activist Riley Gaines (who has testified before Congress), and journalist Joel Pollak (who was on the show once before). In other words, people they’ve talked about on the show and even talked to on the show.
The Media Research Center and NewsBusters were also among those who put in a formal appearance request. The View was very much familiar with NewsBusters’ work and had even talked about it on their show. They kvetched about a study we put out counting their legal notes. The View has since stopped issuing legal notes.
And when it came to celebrity guests talking politics, The View didn’t seem to like that either. As a NewsBusters study showed back in July, the show had ZERO guests express conservative views, meanwhile 102 guests expressed liberal views.
On Monday’s podcast, Teta and co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin tried to explain that away as just their guests being private (Click “expand”):
TETA: I think there's a feeling out there that if you're on The View, you're gonna talk about Hot Topics, you're gonna talk about current events and the truth is that's always up to the guest.
FARAH GRIFFIN: It totally is.
TETA: I mean, it's not something we push them to do. If they're interested in doing it, of course, we're interested in having those conversations, but it's never something where.
FARAH GRIFFIN: That they’re obligated.
TETA: Absolutely not.
“Of course, and there are examples of conservative celebrities that we have on the show and we say to them, do you want to talk politics? Do you want to talk about this in the same way? And, and if they don't, they don't,” Teta added. “It's totally fine and frankly sometimes it's a relief to just talk about someone's movie or their kids or anything else.”
Teta and co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin tried to write off The View's lack of vocal conservative celebrities as them just being private:
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) November 7, 2025
TETA: I think there's a feeling out there that if you're on The View, you're gonna talk about Hot Topics, you're gonna talk about current events… pic.twitter.com/iVwcKzma4K
If they truly didn’t know many or any of the Republican and conservative people and organizations putting in requests, that was also failure of Farah Griffin since she’s supposedly the token conservative. Farah Griffin should be the one pushing to have prominent voices from the conservative movement on The View, but she’s not. And that’s by design.
The View was more than just the name of the show, it was how it worked. Only one political view was allowed. And clearly they only wanted to speak with those from the right who were actively being a headache to party leadership, thus they could get along with them.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Behind the Table
November 3, 2025
8:39BRIAN TETA: Actress Jennifer Lawrence, who I'm a big fan of.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Me too.
TETA: She was on the Interview podcast from The New York Times and after being vocal during Trump's first term. She says she really doesn't know if she should continue to speak out on politics anymore. Let's listen to what she had to say.
[Cuts to video]
JENNIFER LAWRENCE: Celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. And so then what am I doing? I'm just sharing my opinion on something that's going to just add fuel to a fire that's ripping the country apart.
[Cuts back]
TETA: So she goes on and she continues to say that she doesn't want to turn people off from her work because of her political beliefs. What's your take on that? It's very um introspective, I think in a way that a lot of celebrities aren't always.
(…)
11:55
TETA: It's so interesting because of our show. I mean, you know, we have a show that talks about politics more than most talk shows, daytime or late night, frankly. And You know, I think there's a feeling out there that if you're on The View, you're gonna talk about Hot Topics, you're gonna talk about current events and the truth is that's always up to the guest.
FARAH GRIFFIN: It totally is.
TETA: I mean, it's not something we push them to do. If they're interested in doing it, of course, we're interested in having those conversations, but it's never something where.
FARAH GRIFFIN: That they’re obligated.
TETA: Absolutely not.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, I also, because I don't know if I realized that when I first started on the show and then producers shared that with me. I am impressed though how often when given the opportunity, celebrities want to take the time to say something political and to make a statement.
TETA: Right.
FARAH GRIFFIN: But I like giving them that option because at the same time like. They're there to do a job and I don't think we should force them into something.
TETA: Of course, and there are examples of conservative celebrities that we have on the show and we say to them, do you want to talk politics? Do you want to talk about this in the same way? And, and if they don't, they don't. And so – And there's plenty of liberals that don't want to either. It's totally fine and frankly sometimes it's a relief to just talk about someone's movie or their kids or anything else.
(…)
November 4, 2025
2:20TETA: I give her a lot of respect for coming here and having a conversation.
JOY BEHAR: I give her, give her props for that for sure.
TETA: I do too. I mean –
BEHAR: And I think that Johnson should come on here and
TETA: Yeah, absolutely.
BEHAR: - we can have a conversation with him. We're asking people to come on now. I think Ted Cruz should come on.
TETA: Well, two weeks ago you – after we had Cheryl Hines on – you said on TV -
BEHAR: That Republicans don’t want to come.
TETA: That Republicans are afraid to come. Then the world went – everyone got very worked up and a lot of people you've never heard of kept saying like, ‘Well, I tried to get on and we can't get on the show.’
BEHAR: We’re talking about people who are actually in the center of Washington politics right now.
TETA: Yeah, people that we talk about in Hot Topics, people that are –
BEHAR: Not some Harry Fiduche who has a little business going in Sheboygan and he happens to be a Republican. That’s not what we’re looking for.
TETA: Right. No, it's not that we can't have any Republican to come on, it's the people that are in power that we want to talk to. Um, but, uh, yeah, but yeah, every time you say something I get 400 calls.
(…)
November 5, 2025
9:50TETA: The way you understand or try to understand how they can do those things and how they can exist in those dichotomies is to have somebody come on the show and have a real conversation.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Absolutely.
SARA HAINES: Yes.
TETA: And I think that was good and hopefully we'll have more of them.
HOSTIN: I hope so. I mean, if Marjorie Taylor Green can sit with all of us, anyone can.
TETA: And it’s not like – Listen, people like to say, you know, we don't have other people on. When you go through the names we've had on -
HAINES: Oh wait, but Brian, first, one of the things after we talked about having other voices on. What made me laugh is there were people that you mentioned and then I'd mention, and you'd go "Who?" And you're like "That's the point." The View still has a certain caliber of guest. Just because you're conservative and you have some podcast and people listen to you, does not mean you're going to be invited to sit at the table.
TETA: No, of course. We have people that mean something to our audience and are part of the hot topics we're talking about.
HOSTIN: Sure.
HAINES: Or politicians.
TETA: Yes. We want to have conversations with the people that we're talking about.
(…)
