Rosie fights last fight on
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29 May 2007
Rosie O’Donnell has fought her last fight at “The View.” ABC said Friday she asked for, and received, an early exit from her contract at the daytime chatfest following her angry confrontation with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Wednesday. She was due to leave in mid-June.
It ended a colorful eight-month tenure for {tag Rosie O’Donnell} that lifted the show’s ratings but no doubt caused heartburn for show creator {tag Barbara Walters}. O’Donnell feuded with Donald Trump and frequently had snippy exchanges (read {tag fight} ) with the more conservative Hasselbeck.
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No one was feeling the love on Wednesday, when the argument with Hasselbeck began over O’Donnell’s statement last week about the war: “655,000 Iraqi civilians have died. Who are the terrorists? ”
Talk show critics accused O’Donnell of calling U.S. troops terrorists. She called Hasselbeck “cowardly” for not saying anything in response to the critics.
“Do not call me a coward, because No. 1, I sit here every single day, open my heart and tell people what I believe,” Hasselbeck retorted, and their riveting exchange continued despite failed attempts by their co-hosts to cut to a commercial.
According to a New York Post report, O’Donnell’s chief writer, Janette Barber, was allegedly led out of the building on Wednesday after she was caught drawing mustaches on photographs of Hasselbeck in “The View” studios. {tag ABC} executives didn’t return repeated calls for questions on the incident Friday.
On Thursday O’Donnell had asked for a day off to celebrate her partner’s birthday. {tag The View} aired a taped show on Friday.
On her Web site, O’Donnell posted a scrapbooklike video on Friday with pictures and news clippings of her tenure at “The View.” Cyndi Lauper’s “Sisters of Avalon” played in the background.
A day earlier, she posted messages on her Web site indicating she might not be back.
“When painting there is a point u must step away from the canvas as the work is done,” she wrote. “Any more would take away.”
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