ABC News and its daytime talk show “The View” are being called out by insiders who slammed the network’s news division as a “vicious swamp.”
Leaks by staffers at ABC News have created “rock-bottom morale” for show hosts, producers and executives, as Abby Huntsman’s sudden exit from “The View” has added to the drama, insiders told Fox News.
Huntsman announced Monday that she will be departing the talk show to help her father, Jon Huntsman Jr., in his campaign for governor of Utah. But no sooner had the surprise news come out than reports circulated about the “real reason” for the co-host’s departure.
Her father’s campaign “isn’t the real reason for her exit,” Page Six reported, citing “an insider familiar with Huntsman’s thinking.”
“It’s an unhealthy environment — just the way that things are handled during shows and how people deal with each other,” the source said. “It’s intense.”
The talk show co-host had reportedly complained about the environment to ABC News executives.
“ABC treated Abby like s–t, but everyone on the show gets treated like s–t,” the source added. “She was smart enough to do something about it.”
The UK’s Daily Mail reported that Huntsman’s future “was hanging on by a thread,” citing a “well-placed source” at ABC News who alleged that she was considered to be “bland” by viewers of the show. The report, however, was called a “hatchet job” by Daily Beast editor at large Lloyd Groves who cited another insider claiming ABC News “threw Abby under the bus.”
The conflicting reports and the alleged behind-the-scenes drama seem indicative of the problems ABC News is dealing with according to a longtime media executive.
“ABC News is the nastiest, most vicious swamp in the business – so of course it leaks like a sieve,” the executive who is reportedly familiar with ABC News told Fox News. “That’s a symptom of rock-bottom morale.”
ABC News executives allegedly ordered Huntsman, who joined the show at the same time as Meghan McCain, to deflate the stories about the culture and atmosphere on “The View,” but she did not comply, according to the Daily Beast.
Reporter Yashar Ali called out the Daily Mail article on Huntsman being reported by the Washington Examiner, saying it was “simply not true.”
The Examiner is aggregating a Daily Mail story, so not directing my tweet at John…
But this is simply not true. Abby did not leave because she thought she was on the chopping block.
This is what I was referring to yesterday re the View’s toxic culture…they destroy people https://t.co/tTr1DAbhtV
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) January 14, 2020
“It’s a big mess over there,” an industry veteran told Fox News.
“Talent is concerned with leaks,” one insider said.
“The show has a great team in front of and behind the camera who work really hard to put the show on the air on a daily basis,” an ABC News source told Fox News. “Leaks undermine that hard work.”
Other reports have circulated about Huntsman’s co-host McCain, who has been portrayed as “rude and dismissive.” CNN reported Monday that Huntsman’s exit came amid a “strained relationship” with the outspoken conservative. But the report also revealed that “three people” said the women had already reconciled.
“None of the ladies talk to Meghan now,” a source told Page Six. “Abby was the last woman standing. It’s bad. Meghan’s so rude.”
But an insider close to “The View” told Fox News the claims that McCain is an “outcast” off-camera are highly exaggerated.
Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean noted that the problems at ABC News are “nothing new” while she condemned the targeting of her friends.
This is not a new problem. But the fact that they are targeting friends of mine makes me furious. https://t.co/EwQKF4zOSg
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) January 15, 2020
It’s abusive and workplace harassment.
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) January 15, 2020
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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