Elisabeth Hasselbeck Confronts Bill Maher

Things got heated on The View when Bill Maher found himself on the defensive over a joke he made last year about co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. INSIDE EDITION has the scoop.

Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck got into it with comic Bill Maher onThe View.

Both kept smiling but the tension was obvious.

"You can talk about me or you can talk to me. I think accountability sometimes is important in life," said Hasselbeck.

The hostility between Hasselbeck and Maher goes back to a remark he made in February.

On his HBO show, the arch-liberal Maher had this to say about CBS correspondent Lara Logan, who had just been released after being detained by authorities in Cairo:

"Now that Hosni Mubarak has released Lara Logan he must put her intrepid hotness on a plane back to the United States immediately. In exchange we will send Elisabeth Hasselbeck," said Maher.

A couple of days later, Hasselbeck, a conservative, fired back, saying, "It is unfair, it is chauvinistic. He is not a real man."

When Maher appeared on The View Tuesday to promote a new book, sparks flew almost from the moment he sat down, right next to Hasselbeck.

"You can apologize in a couple minutes," said Hasselbeck.

Pretty soon, Hasselbeck got into it over Maher's insult.

"I make it my job and profession, I sit with incredible comedians and the best in the business in terms of broadcasting. You can't sit here right now and tell me I'm wrong for saying that wasn't that funny," said Hasselbeck.

"Well we do a comedy show, for an audience that's perhaps different than your audience, and you know, I mean you are a public figure," said Maher. 

"Would you say that again?" asked Hasselbeck.

"If I had a crystal ball and knew I was coming here and spend my whole segment talking about it, no, I wouldn't," said Maher.