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Early leave for Rosie after row
28/05/2007 14:51 - (SA)
New York - Rosie O'Donnell has fought her last fight at The View.
ABC said on Friday she will not be back on the television talk show following her angry confrontation with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Wednesday.
It ended a colourful eight-month tenure for O'Donnell that lifted the show's ratings but no doubt caused heartburn for show creator Barbara Walters.
O'Donnell feuded with Donald Trump and frequently had tense exchanges with the more conservative Hasselbeck.
O'Donnell said last month she would be leaving because she could not agree to a new contract with ABC executives.
"Rosie contributed to one of our most exciting and successful years at The View," Walters said.
"I am most appreciative. Our close and affectionate relationship will not change."
In a statement, O'Donnell said that "it's been an amazing year and I love all three women."
'US troops terrorists'
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 US 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 moustaches on photographs of Hasselbeck in The View studios.
ABC executives did not return repeated calls for questions on the incident on Friday.
Scrapbook-like video
On Thursday, O'Donnell had asked for a day off to celebrate her partner's birthday. The View aired a taped show on Friday.
On her website, O'Donnell posted a scrapbook-like video on Friday with pictures and news clippings of her tenure at The View.
Cyndi Lauper's Sisters of Babylon played in the background.
A day earlier, she had posted messages on her website 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."
- AP
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South Africa
