Conservative TV host Elisabeth Hasselbeck first gained public notice in 2001 as a contestant on the second season of the CBS reality show Survivor, then she furthered her fame by marrying NFL player Tim Hasselbeck the following year.
After that, she became the conservative voice on The View for a decade (2003-2013), frequently clashing with her co-hosts and garnering animosity from viewers. Portraying herself as a trad-wife while in reality being a working mother, her next stint was on Fox News' Fox & Friends from 2013 to 2015 before being replaced by Sean Hannity paramour Ainsley Earhardt.
Beginning June 15, 2026, Hasselbeck was back on TV as a guest host on CBS Mornings. According to Variety, the now right leaning network—under the influence of Bari Weis—is doing on-air testing of several hosts for their morning news and entertainment program in an effort to "revamp" the show.
Similar revamping is being done on the network's flagship news program 60 Minutes, causing a great deal of public outcry.
Hasselbeck appeared on the program from June 15-17. During that short stint, she managed to anger viewers with an offhand comment, reminiscent of her time on The View.
On her first day as a guest host, Hasselbeck and CBS Mornings co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson sat down to speak with award-winning singer, actor, writer, director, and entrepreneur Billy Porter. The Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award winner is part of an off-Broadway revival of the musical La Cage aux Folles with a predominantly Black cast.
After being introduced by King, Porter remarked of the upcoming production:
"It’s all joy. It’s all Black, queer joy, and we need that right now."
"It’s heartwarming. It’s lovely. It’s loving, and it’s a fabulous show."
As the interview progressed amid clips from the show's rehearsals, Hasselbeck's first contribution was to say:
"In the little tease, you talked about not really being a sports person. I’m not really a drag person, but I’m a person person. And so, we get to be who we are, and I love that about our world."
You can see the full four-minute Monday morning interview here:
CBS Mornings shared the interview on Instagram, where Hasselbeck's comment, and her presence on the show, drew significant backlash. The only positive comments were about Porter and his new project.
People made their opinion about Hasselbeck joining CBS Mornings on a more permanent basis, and the network's new direction, clear.
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But the comments had nothing but love for Porter and excitement for the latest adaptation of La Cage aux Folles.
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La Cage aux Folles (The Cage of Madwomen in English) was a successful French play of the farce genre which debuted in Paris in 1973. The work later spawned a French-Italian film by the same name in 1978 and a sequel, La Cage aux Folles II in 1980, before becoming a Broadway musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman in 1983. A third French-Italian film sequel followed in 1985 with La Cage aux Folles 3: 'Elles' se marient.
For American audiences, the most famous adaptation of the original play was the 1996 film, retitled The Birdcage, starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
The original play, film, and American adaptations center on two gay men, longtime romantic partners in a time before same-sex marriage was legal, who own a nightclub where drag is performed and where they raised the biological son of one of the men. The straight son, now an adult, is returning home with his fiancée and her ultra conservative parents.
For the musical revival, artist Wayne Brady will play the role of gay father George while Porter will play his partner and nightclub headliner Albin.
