Former co-host of The View and far-left crackpot Rosie O’Donnell made headlines on Monday when she announced on The Tangle podcast that she would be re-joining The View at some point during their anniversary 30th season. However, a few hours later, O’Donnell’s people were walking it back as they admitted there were only early mentions with no specifics as of yet.
“I will go on the 30th anniversary next year, and be on with - in whatever way they want me just as a guest. You know, they're bringing back all the hosts, I think, for the 30th season,” O’Donnell told podcast host Kyle Ridley. “And you know, I'm pretty proud of that show, what it's become and how it really speaks to the people and to politics. And that was not the case when I first joined.”
However, when Entertainment Weekly reached out to O’Donnell’s people for more information, they discovered that there actually were no plans, just a conversation and pleasantries exchanged with The View co-host Ana Navarro:
Reached for comment, a representative for O’Donnell tells EW via email: “There was a mention of inviting some of the hosts back to The View as a guest during season 30, there has not been a formal ask from the show at this time.”
The rep continues, claiming that current cohost Ana Navarro “mentioned [to O’Donnell] coming to Season 30 of The View as a guest (at some point during the season)” but that “nothing has been formalized.” (EW has reached out to a representative for Navarro at The View for a response.)
It is unclear how or if Navarro brought up the possibility of O’Donnell returning as a guest next season.
O’Donnell did appear on a recent episode of Navarro’s Bleep! podcast, but the only mention of O’Donnell’s return came from herself. “Well, you know what? When I come on The View,” she said before Navarro interrupted her with a phone call to a mutual friend in the middle of recording the episode.
According to Page Six, O’Donnell’s claim of a confirmed return to the show seemed to rub at least one former co-host (Michelle Collins) the wrong way since she was still waiting for her phone call about it:
Michelle Collins, who was a co-host from 2015 to 2016, wrote cryptically via Instagram Stories on Monday that she is “waiting for [her] call” from the network after seeing O’Donnell’s quotes — and O’Donnell’s rep clarified to Entertainment Weekly that “there has not been a formal ask from the show at this time.”
Ironically, this snafu over a possible return appearance would likely make any return by O’Donnell extremely awkward, something she told Ridley happened between her and Whoopi Goldberg the last time she returned to the show:
I wanted to be on her team. I admire her EGOT status. I have respect for her. And I expected that we would be like, you know, Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan passing the ball back and forth and then shooting and, you know, leading the team to victory, but that's not exactly what happened. And I think maybe she felt encroached upon in some way, and, and I was never trying to encroach. I was just doing it the way that I knew how to do it and it didn't go so well, you know. So, I didn't want it to be awkward and go on there and make it awkward.
Well, she went and made it awkward. Congratulations, Rosie. You got the attention you were desperate for.
