The comedian has repeatedly claimed over the years in her stand-up act that she was “banned” from the daytime talk show more than once.

Kathy Griffin explains why she left The View with bruises, says 1 star ‘did not care for me’

The comedian has repeatedly claimed over the years in her stand-up act that she was "banned" from the daytime talk show more than once.

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June 24, 2026 10:28 a.m. ET

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Barbara Walters and Kathy Griffin on 'The View'. Credit:

Lou Rocco/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

- Kathy Griffin has explained why she left *The View* with bruises after offending creator Barbara Walters.

- Griffin said Walters kicked her so hard under the Hot Topics table that it left bruises — while former cohost Sherri Shepherd alleged Walters made her "cry for three years straight."

- The comedian has long spoken in her stand-up act about being "banned" from the show, as well as her feud with Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Emmy- and Grammy-winning comedian Kathy Griffin — who has said she was banned from *The View* several times in the past — has alleged that she used to leave the talk show's studio with bruises after her various appearances.

In a new interview (below), Griffin recalled proudly showing off bruises on her leg that she said she received after legendary journalist and *The View* co-creator Barbara Walters, who died in 2023, kicked her so hard under the Hot Topics table that it left lingering marks on her lower body.

"Barbara Walters, the late great, who I adored, did not care for me, so she kicked me under the table," Griffin told *Page Six, *referencing her multiple co-hosting gigs on the show throughout the early aughts. "And I used to leave that show with bruises, but proud of them."

Griffin, who appeared on *The View* as an interview guest in April, said she'd "show my friends, like, 'You guys! I have to show you a bruise!'" before joking that Walters was "heavily into BDSM."

A representative for *The View* did not immediately respond to **'s request for comment.

Griffin claimed over the years in her stand-up act that she was repeatedly banned and later un-banned from appearing on the talk show over drawing Walters' ire. She also spoke to *Page Six* about a viral clip that often resurfaces from one of her *View* appearances.

The *My Life on the D-List* star and conservative cohost Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who served on the show's panel from 2003-2013, sparred on the air in 2010, with the latter attempting to confront Griffin in front of the live studio audience about on-stage jokes she often made about the cohosts that she felt weren't true or funny.

"It's their turf, it's their audience, I just thought, it could go one of two ways. I could either try to kill her with kindness or apologize or whatever," Griffin said. She ultimately decided, in the moment, to throw it right back at Hasselbeck when she said, "This moment is what I live for, so bring it. I mean, this is actually how I write my act."

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Griffin previously observed of the moment, "Come on, even the home audience of *The View, *who showed up not to see me, but to see the ladies of *The View*, applauded," adding, "She was, I could tell, very thrown that the audience went with me. I was very thrown. So, that made some headlines!"

The comedian has since criticized Hasselbeck several times, calling the *Survivor* alum a "pain in the ass" and "indignantly stupid" after *The View* welcomed Hasselbeck back to guest-host the show earlier this year during conservative panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin's maternity leave.

Griffin also poked at the cohosts in the immediate aftermath of Hasselbeck and former *View* moderator Rosie O'Donnell's legendary on-air fight in 2007, as Griffin was a guest host the following day and brought up the incident numerous times — which annoyed Walters in the moment.

Barbara Walters, Kathy Griffin, Sherri Shepherd on 'The View'.

Jeff Neira/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

The star also opened up about turning down a reported offer from the talk show to permanently join the panel, though her refusal of the offer also, according to Griffin, angered Walters at the time.

Former cohost Sherri Shepherd also recently opened up about Walters' tough love at the table.**

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"For me, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I did cry for three years. Barbara Walters made me cry for three years straight, but what I learned, she taught me how to find my voice," reflected Shepherd in October 2025. "I found my voice on that show. I joke, I say, now my voice is deep because Barbara told me when your voice is deeper, it projects confidence."

Watch Griffin's allegation about Walters' behavior on *The View* in the video above.

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