Whoopi Goldberg Silences Meghan McCain with Commercial Break After Argument Over COVID-19 Bill


Whoopi Goldberg appeared to pull the plug on a discussion with Meghan McCain, sending Monday's episode of The View to a commercial break after a heated exchange about the latest COVID-19 relief bill.

However, a source tells PEOPLE that "given the circumstances" of the hosts filming remotely during the pandemic, "it’s entirely possible that Meghan wasn’t even hearing her in real time."

"They’ve all been doing a great job keeping the show going," the insider adds. "They didn’t miss a beat when things started to shut down — the show kept going with new live shows.”

The panel was discussing the Democrats' latest $3 trillion COVID-19 relief bill proposal, which passed in the House of Representatives but is expected to be turned away in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Some Republican lawmakers denounced the relief bill as a "liberal wish list" last week — a comparison McCain, 35, repeated on Monday before Goldberg, 64, sent the show to a commercial break as McCain was still talking.

"How are we going to tax people if there's no economy?" McCain asked as Goldberg told viewers the show would be right back and ushered a commercial break.

McCain is the youngest and only conservative voice represented on The View's daily panel and often clashes with her co-hosts, who largely lean left on political and social issues.

The panels' latest argument came when co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Joy Behar joined Goldberg in calling for the Democrats' sweeping relief bill to pass in the Senate, with both hosts drawing on their own personal financial struggles in the past in forming their view on the issue.

Hostin and Behar both said they want to see the federal government give more aid to struggling Americans, though Behar admitted the $3 trillion that Democrats requested may be too much but that Congress is supposed to negotiate.

Behar, 77, argued the relief bill would help American workers and families who can't go to work and are relying on unemployment insurance. Hostin, 51, then escalated the discussion when she suggested Republican lawmakers have more cynical reasons to turn the relief package away.

“What this is really about is the 'haves' not wanting the 'have nots' to survive this and that is really, really serious," Hostin said. "We have the money. We just don't seem to have the money to save these people. This is what that's about."

McCain immediately stepped in to counter Hostin.

"That is just ridiculous," McCain said as Goldberg tried to speak at the same time. "It's a Democrat wish list."

"Hold on, I just want to — just let me finish… let me finish my point," Goldberg interjected before sending the show to a commercial break as McCain continued speaking.

When the show came back, the panel moved on to talk about the growing public feud between President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama, who appeared to criticize Trump's handling of the pandemic during his virtual 2020 commencement speech over the weekend.

The rivalry between the two political figures is representative of the broader partisanship between those in the Republican and Democratic political parties, including the hosts of The View.

During Monday's episode, McCain complained that Democrats have "appointed President Obama as nothing short of a saint" and that she and other conservatives believe differently, while her co-hosts celebrated Obama's speech.

“I think at a certain point, we have to start talking to each other in the middle," McCain said. "We have to start talking about the faults on both sides.”

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