Former View cohost and conservative media personality Meghan McCain isn't backing down on her criticism of an off-Broadway stage show, Ghost of John McCain, that uses her late father's name and long-standing feud with Donald Trump as narrative inspiration.

"This is trash - nothing more than a gross cash grab by mediocre desperate people," Meghan tweeted Tuesday on X in response to a news report about the show's debut date, which comes six years after John died in 2018. "I hope it bombs."

In response to Meghan's social media post, writer Scott Elmegreen provided Entertainment Weekly with a lengthy statement that calls John "a universally respected and important figure in the ongoing dialogue about the state and future of American politics" and speculates that "he certainly lives on inside the mind of Donald Trump" both in and out of the play's context.

"Ghost of John McCain is a psychological exploration of what that might be like for the senator, as he gathers a 'Greek Chorus' coalition of Hillary Clinton, Eva Perón, Teddy Roosevelt, Taylor Swift, and everyone else squatting rent free up there to rebel against the former president's relentless demands for affirmation. We hope that their journey can continue the senator's legacy of inspiring all of us to do whatever we can for the causes of justice and freedom," Elmegreen writes. "Our team has been in conversation with the McCain family ever since [2021]. Meghan and her husband were invited to our reading of the show this past winter, and they will be invited to our upcoming reading on May 9 as well. We think they will love it, just as audiences have to date."

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As EW reported in January, Ghost of John McCain was written by Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola, and produced by strategist Jason Rose and ex-McCain consultant Max Fose. At the time, Elmegreen told EW that the show was initially devised by Grant Woods, the Arizona senator's former congressional chief of staff, and dramatizes the long-standing feud between the 2008 GOP presidential nominee and Trump.

Upon the show's initial announcement, Meghan told EW through a representative that the McCain family "has not authorized it nor was aware of" the musical, and that she "was as surprised as everyone else to see the announcement." However, Elmegreen told us that Meghan's mother, Cindy McCain, was contacted by someone close to the project: Woods' wife, Marlene Galán-Woods, who he claimed contacted Cindy in mid-2023 about the upcoming production. (Galán-Woods and representatives for Cindy did not respond to EW's request for comment at the time.)

"My [composer] Drew Fornarola and I have done our best to bring [Woods'] vision to life, and to write a musical that captures the spirit of John McCain as he lives on in America's zeitgeist," Elmegreen said in a follow-up email statement. "We look forward to Meghan seeing our show, and we hope that she enjoys it [as] much as we have enjoyed working on it."

Ghost of John McCain opens over Labor Day Weekend at New York City’s Soho Playhouse and runs through election day on Nov. 5.Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

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