Lisa Ling Claims Barbara Walters Was Forced Out of ‘The View': ‘They’re Making Me Quit’
Lisa Ling is suggesting that ABC forced Barbara Walters out of The View in 2014.
Walters created the daytime chat fest in 1997. She co-hosted the hit show for 17 seasons and remained as an executive producer until she passed away last year.
In an interview with The Cut, Ling recalled a chat she had with Walters on her last day on The View.
"'Barbara, in a couple of months, are you going to be lounging in a hammock in Tahiti?'" Ling said she asked Walters during a commercial break.
"And [Walters] just leaned over and whispered, 'They’re making me quit,'" the CNN host added.
Ling was a co-host on The View from 1999-2002. She currently hosts This Is Life with Lisa Ling on CNN.
Walters died in December 2022 at the age of 93.
"Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones," her representative Cindi Berger said in a statement at the time. "She lived a big life. She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women."
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Walters grew up in New York and launched her career in TV news at NBC's Today show in 1961. She eventually went on to become the show's first female co-host alongside Hugh Downs and Frank McGee.
After leaving NBC, Walters went on to co-anchor ABC Evening News in 1976 and joined the famed news program 20/20 three years later.
The View is currently in it's 26th season with co-hosts: Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro.