Howard Stern knows how to push buttons on The View.
The “king of all media” made a rare appearance on the show Thursday morning to promote his new book of interviews, Howard Stern Comes Again, and from the moment he walked on stage he was ribbing the feuding hosts.
“This is a new cast for me,” Stern, who last appeared on The View in 2012, said, looking around. “Now, who’s gone? Julie Chen Moonves, right?” Joy Behar had to remind him that the wife of disgraced CBS CEO Les Moonves recently stepped down as co-host of their competitor The Talk.
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From there, Stern turned serious for a moment to pay tribute to the late Sen. John McCain, telling his daughter Meghan, “Your father, I got to meet him a couple years ago. And I got to thank him for his service and how much he meant to me and how much he gave to this country. I'm really excited to be here with you and I offer my condolences.”
In return, Meghan McCain described going on his SiriusXM show as “one of the highlights” of her career and said that her parents found Stern to be a “such a gentleman.”
“For once, I was a gentleman around your father,” Stern joked.
Later in the show, Stern brought up one of the show’s previous controversial hosts Rosie O’Donnell, calling her “one of the best guests I've ever had on my show” and adding, “It was a miracle she was on my show because for years, like an ass, I attacked Rosie, I didn’t really give her a chance.”
When Behar tried to change the subject to Donald Trump, who is also featured in his book, Stern asked, “What’s the matter? You don’t want to talk about Rosie? What happened with Rosie? She’s not on the show anymore.”
He then turned to Whoopi Goldberg and asked for her take on O’Donnell. She replied, “I don’t even think about it.”
As Stern began to heap praise on Hillary Clinton, who he believes could have won in 2016 had she agreed to come on his show, McCain asked if he would “ever entertain a Republican.” He said that he would and has voted for Republicans—at least at the state level—but couldn’t think of any besides former Gov. George Pataki.
“But yes, and listen I feel bad for you, I see you getting yelled at all the time,” Stern told McCain, alluding to her nasty shouting matches with her most left-leaning co-hosts. Turning to Behar, he added, “Give the woman a chance, for God’s sake! You’re chasing her out, she’s in tears, it’s crazy!”
Laughing, McCain screamed, “Yeah, be nice, listen to Howard!”
Then, after Sunny Hostin told Stern how “offended” she was by his radio show in the ‘80s—and accused him of “using” the “n-word”—McCain returned the favor. “I’m sorry, but I grew up listening to you,” she said. “I’ve loved the show forever and I was never offended.”
