Meghan McCain says SNL impression spiralled her into depression

Despite calling the parody a ‘pop cultural honour’ at the time, the conservative TV personality said it had been ‘unflattering’ and had sent her ‘into a spiral’

Meghan McCain has spoken out against the way she was parodied by Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 2019 after the show took aim at her and co-hosts of The View.

In an interview published in Rolling Stone on Wednesday, Ms McCain said the parody featuring her and co-hosts of The View had been “not flattering or kind”, and that she was worse off.

“I think partly SNL parodies have this way of becoming reality,” Ms McCain, who recently left the show, said.

“People really loved it when SNL dunked on me, and it was not flattering or kind.”

Accusing SNL of being “pretty nice to the rest of the cast” but not her, the daughter of late Republican senator John McCain said she was “aware” that people had a “princess impression” of her.

The SNL sketch, which referred to Ms McCain as the “princess of Arizona”, sent her into depression, the 36-year-old said in the interview.

“I’m very aware of this, like, spoiled, entitled queen of nepotism persona that is out there,” said Ms McCain, whose father was senator for Arizona, “[and] some of it I think is, I didn’t always react my best on air on The View.”

“I feel like I have a pretty healthy sense of humor,” she added. “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”.

The former co-host of The View, according to excerpts from her upcoming memoir Bad Republican, said the show forced her to endure “plenty of shade – too much to even begin to recount – and then … more toxic, direct, and purposeful hostility.”

“It was as if I had become an avatar for everything they hated about the president,” she said of her co-hosts, according to Vanity Fair. “It felt like the cohosts and staff only knew one Republican – me – and took out all their anger on me, even though I didn’t even vote for Trump.”

Ms McCain said immediately after the SNL parody was broadcast in April 2019 that it had been a “pop culture honour” to be parodied by the sketch show, where she previously worked as an intern.

She announced her resignation from The View in July and said it had been “one of the hands-down greatest, most exhilarating, wonderful privileges of my entire life.”

ABC News said in a statement that it had addressed the complaints raised internally by Ms McCain on The View, which it produces.

“For 25 years, The View has been a platform on air and behind the scenes for strong women. Live television and different perspectives can often lead to surprising moments, but the team is collaborative and supportive - focused on delivering an informative daily talk show to our loyal viewers,” a spokesperson said.

The Independent has reached out to SNL for comment.