By Inga Parkel

Copyright independent

Years before securing her position as CBS News’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss apparently once had aspirations of joining The View.

In fact, Weiss, 41, reportedly auditioned to replace conservative pundit Meghan McCain, who departed the ABC talk series in July 2021. But to no avail.

According to Variety, Weiss, who had previously guest-hosted the show a few times, didn’t test well with audiences. With her centrist-right contrarian politics, she apparently scored so low with focus groups that she wasn’t invited back as a guest host.

However, an ABC insider told The Daily Beast that she was rejected due to her physical appearance.

The Independent has contacted The View and Weiss’s representative for comment.

The open position instead went to Alyssa Farah Griffin, President Donald Trump’s former White House director of strategic communications.

Griffin joined The View as a permanent co-host in September 2022, filling McCain’s seat as the show’s “conservative” voice.

Weis was named the CBS News editor-in-chief on Monday — a move that hasn’t come without controversy. The journalist, who considers herself a “radical centrist” and is known for her stridently pro-Israel stance, is likely to face a tough time gaining respect in the newsroom, as many view her as a “political operative” with no real experience in broadcast journalism.

In her first message to CBS News staff Monday morning, Weiss said: “I stand for the same core journalistic values that have defined this profession since the beginning, and I will continue to champion them alongside you,” noting that she aspires for “journalism that holds both American political parties to equal scrutiny.”

The day after Weiss was named editor-in-chief, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, announced that it had also acquired her anti-woke digital outlet The Free Press.

“Let’s do the f***ing news,” Weiss declared to staffers in a morning editorial call, adding that she was excited for the CBS News staff to get to know The Free Press.

A CBS News employee told The Independent that there were “eye rolls for sure” and that Weiss was “cosplaying as a broadcast journalist.” Another reporter, meanwhile, described Weiss’s remarks as “cringey movie references and a half-assed pep talk” about winning and doing “the f***ing news.”

The View’s panel currently includes Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro.

McCain, the daughter of the late Arizona Senator John McCain, previously appeared as a presenter from 2017 to 2021.

Since her exit, she has been vocal about her “toxic” experience on the show, claiming she endured “horrible treatment” from her fellow co-hosts.

In a searing 2023 column for the Daily Mail, she reiterated a past story about Behar telling her “she didn’t miss me one bit” on air.

“I went to my office after the show, threw up in a garbage can, called my brother hysterically crying and decided to quit the show that day,” McCain wrote.

“The only way to survive on that show is to be vanilla pudding. Say nothing controversial with the elites, bow down, and don’t actually do the job you were hired to do, which is voice your authentic opinions.”

She added: “There is nothing on God’s green earth that could convince me to ever walk on to that set again. May the bridges I burn light the way.”