Meghan McCain: ‘SNL’ parodies made me feel like ‘laughing stock of the country’

Meghan McCain says in a new interview that sketches performed on “Saturday Night Live” mocking her during her stint on ABC’s “The View” made her feel like she was “the laughing stock of the country.” 

“I think partly ‘Saturday Night Live’ parodies have this way of becoming reality. I’ve seen it so many times with Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton. The stereotypes of who you are become true. [George W.] Bush being an idiot. I still think Alex Trebek is someone who celebrities hated. Sometimes the parody is the person, and I think that probably played a factor, too,” McCain said during a question-and-answer session with Rolling Stone promoting her new audiobook. “People really loved it when ‘SNL’ dunked on me, and it was not flattering or kind. And, by the way, they were pretty nice to the rest of the [‘View’] cast, just not great to me.” 

The sketch in question, which aired in the spring of 2019, mocked McCain’s spats with her “View” co-hosts, referring to the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as the  “Princess of Arizona.”

At the time, McCain called the parody “hilarious.”  

“This sketch is hilarious, and being parodied by @SNL is a huge pop cultural honor,” she said in a social media post, signing her tweet “the princess of Arizona.”

In the Rolling Stone interview published this week, McCain said she is “aware of this, like, spoiled, entitled queen of nepotism persona that is out there,” about her. 

“I feel like I have a pretty healthy sense of humor,” she continued. “But I think if people knew what it has done to me mentally, emotionally, the toll it’s taken on me, the depression that has followed … just the dark spirals. I felt like for a while that I was just the laughing stock of the country. And it’s not true or fair or accurate, but when you’re your worst critic in your head, it’s very hard.” 

McCain, whose audiobook “Bad Republican” drops soon, this week went public with accusations of a “toxic” work environment both on air and behind the scenes during her time on “The View,” alleging she was bullied and targeted by co-hosts because of her conservative political views. 

“It’s all very personal. That’s the thing is that being a conservative woman in mainstream media is deeply threatening. Being a woman who can hold her own on a show like that proved to be ultimately threatening,” McCain said Tuesday during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program. “So, it became more and more personal the stronger the show got.” 

In a statement to The Hill on Tuesday, ABC defended the culture on “The View,” saying the show “has been a platform on air and behind the scenes for strong women,” for 25 years.