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Sherri Shepherd is opening up about former The View co-host Jenny McCarthy’s recent comments about her return to the panel talk show over her “dead body.”
During the Jan. 8 episode of her talk show, Shelley (a clip of which was previewed by EW), Shepard, 58, reacted to McCarthy’s recent podcast appearance, in which she opened up about her frustrations with her time on The View, considering the show hired her to talk about lighter topics on air, but pivoted to discussing politics upon arrival.
“It’s no secret that Jenny McCarthy hated being on The View,” Shepard said in the video. “I remember the day we switched to politics. Jenny came straight into my dressing room and said, ‘Shelly, my God, what am I going to do?'” And I looked at her and said, ‘What are you going to do?’ ” ”
According to Sheppard, “everything Jenny was saying was absolutely true” and she “felt really bad for her friends, because they were. They brought her on the show after a lot of focus groups saying they wanted less fighting about politics. They wanted it to be more chiller and more fun.”
According to EW, the 30 Rock actress remembers McCarthy as “bright,” “funny” and “sexy,” but revealed in a Hot Topic segment that “focus groups changed her mind” about bringing politics back.
“Two weeks later, a girl was wearing glasses, and I looked over and said, ‘What the hell are you wearing glasses for?’ She was like, ‘Shelly, they want me to look like I know politics,'” Shepherd recalled. “I sat there and said, ‘Why does Playmate of the Year look so conservative?’ They tried to make Jenny look conservative, but she just looked like a sexy librarian. ”
McCarthy, who co-hosted Season 17 in 2013 and 2014, spoke candidly about her experience on the daytime talk show on the Tuesday, Jan. 6 episode of the Katie Miller Podcast.
When asked if he thought he would ever be invited back as a co-host on the show, now in its 29th season, McCarthy recalled the first time he was invited.
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“The reason they wanted to invite me is because, quote, they said it was too polarizing. They thought it was too polarizing at the time, you guys,” she said.
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According to McCarthy, the show originally planned to have her as a permanent panelist to provide “light, fluffy and fun” commentary on topics such as Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor.
“They said, ‘Today we’re going to talk about the hostage situation and whether or not the U.S. government should pay a ransom. And I thought, ‘What?'” McCarthy recalled. “I’m like, ‘All I know is who won on Dancing with the Stars.’ So it was really hard to get through that year.”
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Shepard, who joined The View in 2007, said on her talk show, “I had the same problem as Jenny, because when I went on the show, they wanted someone who was upbeat, someone who was a mother, and talking about being single and being a mother was supposed to be very light.”
“But then Barack Obama ran for president, and all we talked about was politics,” Shepard recalls, adding that she didn’t even vote in her early adulthood because she was raised in a strict religion, and that religion hindered her understanding of the wider world around her.
“It was tough for me, but I had the best time on The View. It was one of the best, hardest, scariest, most tearful experiences, but I loved it. The women I sat at that table with are lifelong friends,” Shepherd added, noting that she considers the group of current and former co-hosts, including Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a “sisterhood.”
“I had a lot of gaffes, but the girls always protected me. They didn’t let anyone talk about me. I love them so much on The View. I know what it’s like. It’s unfortunate that Jenny went through all of that. She felt like it was a bait and switch,” she concluded, celebrating the fact that “now we were on The View together and now we’re lifelong friends.”
