Meghan McCain seems to be needling her former “View” co-host and ABC co-star Sara Haines with a sly dig about her ratings.
Haines quit “The View” in July 2018 and announced she was taking up a gig with Michael Strahan to co-host the “Good Morning America” spinoff.
Amid rumors the pair had never actually got on, McCain praised Fox News’ Harris Faulkner — whose show goes up against Haines and Strahan in the 1 p.m. ET timeslot — for beating her competition.
She wrote, “So proud of you Harris, (not that you need the accolades). Thank you for always being a woman I can look up to in this industry, for all the goals I wish to achieve myself, and for being a pillar of strength and friendship I can rely on. And you do it all with grace and class.”
Faulkner tweeted a link to a story that stated her show “Outnumbered Overtime with Harris Faulkner” is proving it can beat a broadcast competitor in the same timeslot.
The Wrap reported that according to Nielsen stats, “Outnumbered Overtime” has beaten ABC’s “Strahan and Sara” eight times out of 17 episodes in July, and nearly 20 times in 2018.
The FNC show also ranks as the top cable news program in its timeslot with 1.3 million total viewers, 207,000 of which are in the key 25-54 demographic.
Faulkner told the site: “We’ve been able to do some ambitious things, and we knew going into this that’s what we were hungry to produce and what the audience wanted … What I love about those interviews is you get a feeling of primetime in the afternoon.”
And she tweeted: “Feel so blessed for #foxnews viewers who have lifted me along my journey. #BlessedAndGrateful.”
An ABC spokesperson insisted: “This is ridiculous. Maybe your source should check TV Guide — in a good portion of the country, those shows aren’t even on at the same time. Meghan can be proud of a friend’s success and her ABC pals, too.”
A source added: “Meghan was congratulating and supporting a friend nothing more than that.”
The source pointed out that Faulkner had previously been a guest on “The View.”
Another source also tells us that McCain considers Faulkner her mentor from her days at Fox News and was congratulating her.
Meanwhile, Page Six reported last month reported that Keke Palmer is joining Strahan and Haines as a full-time co-host.
The singer and actress impressed ABC when she filled in as a guest host when Haines was on maternity leave. She returned last month.
The ABC daytime show replaced “The Chew” but has struggled with ratings since it debuted last year.
It was called “GMA Day” until ABC changed the name in January.
We revealed that the network is hoping Palmer, who turns 26 this month, will attract younger viewers.
There were even reports that ABC bosses were even giving tickets away to the show, although as Cindy Adams said: “Yeah, they’re adding another host, Keke Palmer, hoping to attract younger viewers. But that could mean adding another name onto the show’s title, which could make it sound like it’s a law firm.”