Mario Cantone Said ‘The View’ Was Never Serious About Him Joining the Cast
Sex and the City star Mario Cantone recently shared that The View was never serious about asking him to join the cast at the roundtable, even though rumors surfaced that he was on the shortlist.
The View guest hosts are common on the show, but Cantone’s appearances almost became a regular occurrence. He logged a record 152 appearances in 2021, so it was only natural that he would have been considered for a main role.
‘The View’ was never serious about adding Mario Cantone to the cast
Cantone said he was close with The View producer Bill Geddie, but there was no truth to the rumor he was going to be a full-time cast member. “It was great press, wonderful press at the time,” he said on the Hot Takes and Deep Dives with Jess Rothschild podcast.
“But there was a time when Bill and Barbara (Walters), Bill Geddie who was a big champion of mine, who was the executive producer at the time,” Cantone continued. “He was trying to do a show, an offshoot of … it was two guys and three girls. It was Bryant Gumbel, me and he was going to have three women. He did a couple of trial runs on the show. And, you know, it didn’t happen. And now that’s what The Talk is doing. They got two guys and three girls. That’s what Bill Geddie wanted to do years ago.”
He recalls being on ‘The View’ during the heavy pre-politics days
Even though Geddie ran a trial show with Cantone, joining The View roundtable was never a possibility, he insisted.
“But no, it was never going to happen,” Cantone said. But added that he loved co-hosting The View. “But I had a great time doing that show,” he recalled. “And after everyone was kind of fired and Rosie (O’Donnell) came back. And it was another guy named Bill Wolff who was the executive producer, Rosie said I want Mario to come on. And that particular year I did so much.”
But then the series went heavy on politics around the 2016 election. “And then the year after, it became all political and all about politics and Trump and everything,” he said. “So that was it. And then every time I did go on after that, it was always something. I went on as (Anthony) Scaramucci. I did a couple of political tunes, a song called ‘Undecided.’ The night of the election. For some reason, they did on Lifetime, an election night special. And I sang a song called ‘Undecided’ about the undecided voter.”
Mario Cantone continues to appear on ‘The View’
And while Cantone may have moved on from possibly being a full-time host of The View, he continues to return to the show. During a 2021 appearance, he discussed how gay actors should be cast in gay roles – and those roles should not go to straight actors.
“Everyone knows I’m playing a real womanizer straight guy,” he quipped during an appearance (via Decider). “Sorry, heterosexual actors. I’m playing you now.”
But added, “Look, straight people have been playing gay guys forever, and we’ve all had to deal with that,” he observed. “Until there are equal parts… people are like, ‘Well, gay people shouldn’t be able to play straight parts.’ The amount of parts, the balance is way off. So that’s why I would like to see a gay man playing a gay man all the time.”
Pointing out: “Where is the openly gay movie star leading man, where is he? Name him.”
“When it is a big studio picture, they have to find the star,” Cantone said. “They’ll do it no matter what. If it’s an independent movie or a low-budget movie, they need to be homosexual men.”
