This Female Media Mogul Allegedly Put The Brakes On Gayle King Joining ‘The View,’ Reports Tell-All Book

A new revelation from the tell-all book about The View, Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, alleges that a female media mogul put the brakes on current CBS This Morning anchor and reporter Gayle King from joining the panel to replace Whoopi Goldberg.

Allegedly, Barbara Walters was none too keen on having King join the series due to her longtime friendship with Oprah Winfrey, reported Entertainment Tonight. The book’s author, Ramin Setoodeh, alleges that Walters was “afraid” of the influence Winfrey would have over King during her time on the show if she was hired by The View.

“They were afraid of Gayle’s association with Oprah, and didn’t want Oprah to take over The View in the same way that Rosie [O’Donnell] had,” the author alleged. “They were worried that Oprah was going to offer production notes, and use Gayle as a method to do that.”

The book alleges past behaviors, which Setoodeh claims paint the talk show in an unsavory light.

For the record, two past and present stars of the show did not speak to the author about their time on the series: show moderator Whoopi Goldberg and former panelist Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Rosie O’Donnell allegedly spoke candidly about her time on the series to Setoodeh, but has since reportedly expressed regret for being interviewed for the tome.

O’Donnell took to Instagram Live to share her feelings about the book. She called Setoodeh “a man taking a history of The View and creating only the stories that were negative and conflicted between everyone. And then he named his book Ladies Who Punch. So, he’s a misogynist… and I’m disappointed in him as a human being.”

Jenny McCarthy, who was a panelist from 2013 to 2014, alleged that when she was on The View, the series was moving away from pop culture and more into political stories, leading the former MTV host to rethink her decision as she didn’t consider herself a political person, reported USA Today.

The show currently stars Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Meghan McCain, Sunny Hostin, and Abby Huntsman. The topics remain highly charged and political in nature, but the show makes it a point to show all sides of a topic when it is discussed at the table, leading to some hot debates among the panelists.

Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View is available today, April 2. Ramin Setoodeh is the New York Bureau Chief of Variety.

The View airs weekdays on ABC.