Wednesday, September 29, 2021

'The View' addresses COVID testing fiasco that upended Kamala Harris interview: 'Mistakes were made'


Published September 27, 2021

Producer apologized for announcing COVID-19 tests that turned out to be false positives

By Brandon Gillespie | Fox News



ABC's "The View" spent its first segment Monday addressing the chaos from Friday when co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro were forced to leave mid-show after receiving what turned out to be false positive coronavirus tests.

The program quickly went off the rails as the two remaining co-hosts, Joy Behar and Sara Haines, were left confused by the sudden exit of Hostin and Navarro and had to delay the interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, which ultimately took place via video feed from backstage.

Executive producer Brian Teta, who notified Navarro and Hostin that they would have to leave the show, was put on the spot as he apologized for sharing the results of their tests while the program was live. He also admitted that "mistakes were made," which led to "some really awkward television."

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"We found out moments before we came back on the air, and in that moment all I could think of was that we had to keep the hosts safe and we had to keep the vice president safe. She could not walk out no matter what. And that led to some really awkward television that I’d like to have back if I could," Teta said, addressing why he asked Navarro and Hostin to leave on the air.

"I really want to acknowledge and apologize to Sunny and Ana because in this midst of all this chaos they were put in this position where they had this information put out on television, and then to make it even worse it turned out not to be true later on," he added, referring to the co-hosts' tests being false positives. "So, it was unfortunate that mistakes were made."



Hostin became emotional as she talked about her experience following the false positive test, telling her co-hosts that she was "really uncomfortable" having her results released to the public in the way that they were, and describing how it affected her family.

CONCHA BLASTS ‘THE VIEW’ HOSTS BEING PULLED FROM SET DUE TO POSITIVE COVID TESTS

"For me it was particularly triggering because not too long ago I delivered the eulogy at my in-law’s funeral. So you could imagine how I felt thinking that I could be possibly be COVID-positive, and my family could experience another loss, a loss that I don't think my husband could handle," she said.

Navarro, who like her co-hosts and Harris is fully vaccinated, said she feared she might "wipe out the entire Harris family" by exposing them to coronavirus, noting she had spent time with Harris' family members earlier that day.

She also addressed a disparaging tweet about Donald Trump Jr., who suggested her weight had something to do with her "positive" test, calling him a "dimwit" who was "living off his father's name."



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