In late December 2022, NewsBusters published a study counting out all of the legal notes the liberal ladies of The View were forced to deliver that year. It was a whopping 36 legal notes with most of them covering the Republican and conservative targets of their lies and hatred. The study apparently left an impression behind the scenes of the show because, during the Friday (September 8) episode of their Behind the Table podcast (12:23 mark below), racist co-host Sunny Hostin and executive producer Brian Teta complained about the attention their legal notes received and called them a “necessary evil” they had to put out.
“Well so, one of the more famous roles you have on the show is the deliverer of the legendary legal note, the Sunny legal note,” Teta quipped. He then griped that people don’t “understand” the legal note “because I always read articles saying like, ‘The View had got so much wrong and they had to give 75 legal notes.’”
Teta insisted “a legal note is not a correction” but rather “is something that as a part of ABC News we are asked to do to make sure we’re presenting all statements and sides.” Hostin backed him up, suggesting the legal notes were required by ABC’s Standards and Practices department because “They want to limit the exposure of the company. They want to limit the legal exposure of our show. They want to limit the legal exposure of our hosts.”
But while they were intent on arguing that the legal notes were not corrections in any way, their most infamous set of legal notes covered in the study were regarding their smears and lies against the young conservative group Turning Point USA after the cast tried to link them to neo-Nazis:
SARA HAINES: I do have a note. So, on Monday we talked about the fact there were openly neo-Nazi demonstrators outside the Florida Student Action Summit of the Turning Point USA group. We want to make clear these demonstrators were gathered outside the event and that they were not invited or endorsed by Turning Point USA.
Hostin and Teta almost immediately contradicted their cover story for the legal notes, and admitted they were, in fact, corrections. “And we are unscripted primarily. And so, we’re saying things off-the-cuff and some of us who aren’t lawyers are saying things off-the-cuff, and so that – those corrections need to be made because people are very litigious,” she warned.
Teta even admitted it himself:
TETA: And listen, you’re right. We’re an opinion show. We’re speaking off-the-cuff.
HOSTIN: Yeah, we are.
TETA: So, there are times were—
HOSTIN: We get it wrong sometimes.
TETA: We get it wrong and we correct it and we acknowledge it.
HOSTIN: Yes.
TETA: And it’s never something were –
HOSTIN: And it would be nice if other shows did that.
And while they were admitting that the legal notes were indeed corrections, Hostin called them a “necessary evil” of doing the show.
Hostin and Teta might not have realized it but they also contradicted something said on the September 5 podcast episode, where co-host Joy Behar ridiculously proclaimed: “We do not lie on this show.”
In 2022, Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, was the recipient of five of their legal notes (the most for any single person). They were forced to repeatedly correct their lies about her being “part of the insurrection” and being a mastermind behind it, despite there being no evidence or charges against her.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View: Behind the Table
September 5, 2023
8:02 mark(…)
BRIAN TETA: I will say though, when you come into the meetings in them morning – There are days when you come in and you’re like loosey-goosey about what we’re talking about and there are days that you come in like you’ve got something that is eating you up inside, and come hell or high water no matter what anybody else takes, you’re going to get this out there, you’re going to talk about this.
JOY BEHAR: Well, today was a good example of it.
TETA: That’s right.
BEHAR: People didn’t want to talk about global warming and climate change. I got it in.
TETA: Yeah. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to talk about it.
BEHAR: Yeah, it’s a boring topic but it’s most crucial existential terror topic that there is right now.
TETA: It is.
BEHAR: I mean, it’s the only planet we have.
TETA Absolutely.
BEHAR: And I did get it in.
TETA: No, you did and we got some numbers out there that people can help with things like Maui and stuff like that.
BEHAR: Yeah! I mean we provide a service when we tell people – As I was saying to – we were being interview today by the press. And you were standing there so you know what I said. But I was saying that the reason that they like us on this show, right now in particular, is – and many people were every upset that we weren’t there all summer. Why were they upset and why do they care about what we have to say? And I’ll tell you why.
It’s not because we’re brilliant, it’s not because I’m the greatest analyst. I’m not. I’m not even a pundit. I’m just a comedian, actor, playwright now who has opinions. I basically speak as a citizen of the country. But, the one thing that we don’t do is we do not lie on this show. We do not lie. And if somebody is wrong, we’re corrected. And I think that is a very crucial point in these times when everything is alternative facts.
(…)
September 8, 2023
12:23 markTETA: Well so, one of the more famous roles you have on the show is the deliverer of the legendary legal note, the Sunny legal note. It’s kind of evolved over time. In the beginning it was like “Well, you know, we have a lawyer here, let her do it.” I think what people don’t understand about the legal note – because I always read articles saying like, “The View had got so much wrong and they had to give 75 legal notes.”
SUNNY HOSTIN: No.
TETA: A legal note is not a correction.
HOSTIN: No.
TETA: A legal note is something that as a part of ABC News we are asked to do to make sure we’re presenting all statements and sides.
HOSTIN: Well, yes because we have a standards and practices attorney – I have friends who have that gig – and they want to make sure – They want to limit the exposure of the company. They want to limit the legal exposure of our show. They want to limit the legal exposure of our hosts.
And we are unscripted primarily. And so, we’re saying things off-the-cuff and some of us who aren’t lawyers are saying things off-the-cuff, and so that – those corrections need to be made because people are very litigious. And when you’re talking about a Donald Trump, we know he’s litigious.
TETA: Right.
HOSTIN: When we’re talking about any of his cronies, you know, we know that they are litigious. And so, we need to protect our show we can also be on-air.
Now, I do get a kick out of some of it and I try to keep a straight face because some of it is, for one, for a lawyer who’s been a lawyer for almost 30 years, it’s so obvious.
TETA: Right.
HOSTIN: But, I know that it’s necessary and so, I’m trying to do it – I’m trying to play –
TETA: It’s a conversation we’ve had. You know, we want to—
HOSTIN: I’m trying to play it as straight as possible –
[Laughter]
– Because it’s like, “and they’re denied it.” Of course, they’ve denied it, they’ve plead [not] guilty! But I think it’s necessary. It’s a necessary evil.
TETA: Right, and it’s something you’re often saying the same note several times a show or a week or a month.
HOSTIN: Yes. Yes. And we’ll be saying that particular note until we get –
TETA: Donald Trump denies all wrongdoing over and over again.
[Laughter]
But it’s important and yeah, but I’m kind of glad we kind of clarify exactly why that happens.
HOSTIN: Yes.
TETA: And listen, you’re right. We’re an opinion show. We’re speaking off-the-cuff.
HOSTIN: Yeah, we are.
TETA: So, there are times were—
HOSTIN: We get it wrong sometimes.
TETA: We get it wrong and we correct it and we acknowledge it.
HOSTIN: Yes.
TETA: And it’s never something were –
HOSTIN: And it would be nice if other shows did that.
TETA: They don’t.
HOSTIN: You know, I mean, I have been the subject of a lot of commentary. Shocking to me but, you know, Fox News – It’s either Joy or it’s Sunny. And they things that literally are not true.
(…)
