‘The View’: Meghan McCain Accused of Outing Journalist on Live TV
Meghan McCain from The View continues to be controversial even when not on the show. The conservative co-host made some claims on Twitter that were quickly blasted and exposed her as embellishing. That’s not all she did though. In the middle of all the backlash for misrepresenting the state of her neighborhood after the Black Lives Matter protests, another accusation was made. McCain was called out for revealing a journalist’s sexual orientation on TV.
How did the controversy start?
The View was on hiatus as the protests for Black Lives Matter took over the nation. McCain loves news and politics and she was tweeting out about what was happening across the country. She caused an uproar when she made it seem that she was in New York City and her neighborhood was left in shambles.
“My neighborhood in Manhattan is eviscerated and looks like a war zone,” she tweeted. “[Bill] DeBlasio and Andrew [Cuomo] are an utter disgrace. This is not America. Our leaders have abandoned us and continue to let great American cities burn to the ground and be destroyed. I never could have fathomed this.”
A writer for Full Frontal just happened to be one of McCain’s neighbors in the Big Apple. She was quick to fact check her and deny her claims.
“Meghan, we live in the same building, and I just walked outside. It’s fine,” Kristen Bartlett tweeted.
Meghan McCain confesses to lying
It turns out McCain was not even in the city and was only making a general statement, misrepresenting the state of her neighborhood to make a point. The Republican pundit only confessed to have lied after they reached out to her to tell her they were going to post a story on her real whereabouts.
“I sent a tweet yesterday based on the news I saw happening in midtown we all have been watching all over different media platforms,” McCain tweeted.
“I support the peaceful protests, their movement but am absolutely heartbroken about the destruction in the city I have loved since I moved to when I was 18,” she continued in a second tweet. “It is important to have your voice heard and I hope everyone stays safe and healthy.”
Page Six broke the news that McCain was actually in Virginia and not in NYC as she had led everyone to believe.
“She isn’t even in the city! She’s in Virginia at a family home because she wanted to be in a place she could keep guns,” a source told Page Six.
Meghan McCain outed journalist on-air
After McCain was blasted by her neighbor, there were many comments which included one from journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin. In a reply to both Slade and McCain, Shihab-Eldin recalled that The View personality outed him “LIVE on-air.”
“It was incredibly uncomfortable. Once on a show called Take Part Live,” he confirmed in a second tweet.
The show Shihab-Eldin mentioned was one that McCain co-hosted on Pivot. Once McCain saw the tweet, she apologized.
“If I did this, it was completely unintended,” she said. “I do sincerely apologize for any pain or trauma I ever caused you Ahmed. I would NEVER do that intentionally, under any circumstances whatsoever. My DM’s are open if you would like to talk about this further Ahmed.”
Shihab-Eldin, who also co-hosted Huff Post Live with former The View star Abby Huntsman, didn’t reply publicly, but McCain added a second tweet minutes later.
“For whatever it’s worth (and it could be nothing), I had always wished you were chosen as a co-host on that show,” she added. “I remember how talented on-air you are.”
The View airs weekday mornings at 11 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. CT/PT on ABC.
