“The View” uses Barbara Walters in commercial urging viewers to push back against FCC: ‘Use your voice’

Key Points

• The View aired a spot during Monday’s show urging audience action against the FCC.

• “Use your voice,” the show advised, linking to an FCC form for feedback.

• The FCC has targeted the show over an alleged infraction of the long-standing “equal time” rule from which entertainment talk shows have long been exempt.

The Viewhas invoked the essence of legendary journalist and the series’ founding on-air personality, Barbara Walters, in a new ad urging audience action amid the Federal Communications Commission’s recent targeting of the long-running program.

Though the show’s cohosts have long remained silent on the air about ongoing drama with the federal agency, ABC aired an ad during Monday’s broadcast strongly advising its viewers to take action amid the scuffle.

The commercial (below) opens on an older clip of Walters, who co-founded The View in 1997 before her death in 2023, speaking about her vision for the program ahead of its launch: “I had this idea for a show. Different women, different points of view,” Walters says, before the commercial cuts to a call-to-action.

“The View has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years,” an announcer says in the spot. “Now, the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show.”

The voiceover continues, “Viewers, use your voice. Scan this QR code. You have until July 6.”

The QR code that appears on screen links to an FCC form to submit an “express comment,” and includes an auto-populated field referencing the specific case number of “FCC proceedings” at hand.

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for The View and FCC head Brendan Carr for comment on the new ad.

The View‘s commercial comes after Disney — parent company of the show’s network, ABC — filed a legal petition against the FCC over the agency’s probe into the talk series’ alleged violation of its long-standing “equal time” rule stipulating that an equivalent broadcast opportunity must be accorded to other candidates in a given election cycle if one is given time. The claim came after the show presented an interview with Texas senate candidate James Talarico, though, as many have pointed out, entertainment-style talk shows have long been granted exemption from this standard.

In the petition for declaratory ruling, legal representatives for Disney argued that the FCC’s alleged actions against the talk show “threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to The View and more broadly.”

In the document, ABC attorneys said that, while personal disdain for The View is expected and acceptable, they railed against the notion of using official regulatory agencies like the FCC to legally control speech expressed on the program.

“Some may dislike certain — or even most — of the viewpoints expressed on The View or similar shows. Such dislike, however, cannot justify using regulatory processes to restrict those views,” the filing noted. “The danger is that the government will simply decide which perspectives to regulate and which to leave undisturbed.”

Under President Donald Trump, the United States government — including representatives for the White House and Carr — have often criticized The View in a series of statements to EW and elsewhere.

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Carr said in February that the FCC would be “taking a look at”The View prior to “an enforcement action underway,” while calling an open meeting where he also claimed that the ABC series violated the “equal time” rule.

Recent political interviews on The View have included a range of personalities, including former first lady Dr. Jill Biden and Vice President JD Vance.

The View airs weekdays on ABC.

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