‘The View’ Panics: Colbert Firing is ‘The Dismantling of Our Constitution!’

The hosts on ABC’s The View once again opted for dramatic political narratives over nuanced analysis as they responded to reports that CBS had let go of late-night host Stephen Colbert. According to Newsbusters, led by co-host Sunny Hostin, the panel portrayed the network’s decision as nothing short of a constitutional crisis, completely sidelining more plausible economic reasons for Colbert’s departure.

Hostin declared that if Colbert’s firing was politically motivated, it was tantamount to “the dismantling of our Constitution.” She warned that the “very rubric of our democracy is being dismantled,” a claim that critics see as wildly out of proportion for a corporate shake-up at a late-night comedy show. Rather than wait for verified facts or acknowledge CBS’s history of making financially based decisions, Hostin leapt straight to partisan fearmongering, pushing for government investigations and warning viewers to be ready for political fallout.

“I think every single person should be really, really concerned about it,” Hostin warned about the network’s decision to end Colbert’s show.

Yet when another host, Sara Haines, brought up concrete numbers—like Colbert’s show costing $100 million to produce and only $60 million in ad revenue—she was effectively brushed off. Hostin argued that $60 million still made the show a top earner, but ignored that even “top earning” doesn’t mean “profitable” or immune to corporate cutbacks. The report that Colbert’s ratings and ad revenue had declined in a struggling industry didn’t seem to matter.

Meanwhile, Joy Behar made things even more dramatic by suggesting that Colbert’s departure signals the death of free speech in America. According to Newsbusters, “she warned that ‘all bets are off’ for the future of free speech in America now that ‘King’ Trump was ‘coming for the comedians.’”

Whoopi Goldberg remained “cryptic” in her reaction saying that she had her own theories but wouldn’t share them so as not to “give the other side power” over her thoughts.

As the conversation on The View devolved into emotional theatrics and partisan politics, viewers were reminded once again that the show is seemingly designed to rile their audience than to engage with the facts. Making the suggestion that Colbert’s firing is the “dismantling of our Constitution” is being viewed by critics not as a brave defense of “democracy,” but as a failed attempt to make significant commentary on the matter.