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MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace was a panelist on The View for season 18. Joining the iconic table with fellow co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie Perez, and Rosie O’Donnell, Wallace ended up being fired after just one season. Finding out she was terminated from a news article, the journalist later revealed that her ousting felt very “personal”.

Whoopi Goldberg and Nicolle Wallace at the table of 'The View'
Whoopi Goldberg and Nicolle Wallace of ‘The View’ | Lou Rocco/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Nicolle Wallace’s felt her dismissal from ‘The View’ was due to ‘casting’

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Wallace shared that she “loved” being a part of The View panel. While the daytime talk show is notorious for the heated discussions that happen at the “Hot Topics” table, Wallace felt that her time on the show was quite calm in comparison to previous seasons. She found her firing to be a bit hurtful.

“I think the problem was it wasn’t contentious that season I was on,” Wallace said in August 2020. “Being fired from a TV show where you think you’re kind of baring your soul feels personal because it is. It’s like being broken up with.”

Looking back, the MSNBC star attributed her termination to her being the wrong fit for The View.

“Because I never worked in entertainment, I think what I didn’t understand is: It really was a casting,” Wallace explained. “It was a casting they didn’t like.”

‘The View’ producers didn’t give Nicolle Wallace the news face-to-face

When the network decided not to renew Wallace’s contract, the announcement hit the press before she was given any kind of heads-up.

“They never called me,” Wallace said of ABC, revealing that she read of her own firing in the news. “The night [Variety’s] second story ran, they summoned my agent and told me they’d like to consider me for a contributor role, and they also made me an offer at ABC News to do the conventions and debates… They weren’t interested in negotiating with me. It didn’t make sense for me.”

The View alum was unclear on the reason for her ousting, and noted that she hadn’t received any negative feedback from producers while she was a co-host.

“I had never had one note from anybody inside the entire organization during the entire season,” Wallace remarked. “No one said a word to me. Maybe I should have seen it coming. Not after a single show, a single ‘Hot Topic’ or a single interview. It was like being invisible. But not in an unpleasant way.”

‘The View’ moderator Whoopi Goldberg wasn’t happy about Nicolle Wallace’s firing

Wallace had formed a close bond with Goldberg during her stint on The View, sharing that they had a “special friendship”. Goldberg was clearly against the decision, and made her feelings clear when she announced on the air that Wallace was leaving.

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“You have to ask ABC why,” Goldberg told the audience at the time. “I can’t tell you; I don’t know.”

In an email to the Los Angeles Times, The View moderator praised her former co-host.

“The only thing better than one hour with Nicolle Wallace is two,” Goldberg wrote. “It just makes you smarter.” 

Now a fixture on MSNBC and in talks for a new Peacock show, Wallace remains a strong television presence despite being let go from The View.

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