Rosie O’Donnell sparks The View 'favouritism' row and reveals feud with Whoopi

21 April 2023 , 13:41

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Rosie O’Donnell sparks The View 'favouritism' row and reveals feud with Whoopi

Comedian Rosie O'Donnell has accused the The View of favouritism and lifted the lid on her feud with former co-star Whoopi Goldberg.

While talking to Brooke Shields on her Now What? podcast, the 61-year-old claimed that when she joined the show back in 2006, she believed panellist Elisabeth Hasselbeck was receiving preferential treatment from producers.

Rosie said she joined with a 'teamwork attitude' but claims this was soon diminished when she learned of Elisabeth's collaboration with producer Bill Geddie.

"Elisabeth Hasselbeck was on there, and Bill Geddie was the producer of an all-woman talk show and supposedly a woman's voice was a man, an old, cis, white man Republican who was against everything that I believed in and stood for," she told Brooke.

Rosie initially clashed with Elisabeth (Getty Images for GLAAD)

Elisabeth and Rosie were once friends (FilmMagic)

"And he loved Elisabeth Hasselbeck and would go into her little dressing room and give her notes and talking points of the Republican press that they'd release daily. She had the talking points."

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Rosie stated that there was once a time when her and Elisabeth were friends in a "civil kind of way" but recalls ultimately being "thrown under the bus" by her.

Speaking about their on-air feud in 2007, Rosie said: "[I] was like, 'Are you f**king kidding me?' I finished the show, got my coat, walked out, and said I'm not going back.

Rosie also clashed with Whoopi (FilmMagic)

"And I didn't, until a few years later when they asked me to come back and Whoopi was on it and we clashed in ways that I was shocked by."

Rosie went on to claim that Whoopi Goldberg did not want to discuss Bill Cosby after he was first accused of rape.

She said: "I'm like, 'We're not going to talk?' You know, Bill Cosby was a big topic and I wanted to discuss Bill Cosby [and the rape allegations against him], and Whoopi did not."

Whoopi didn't want to talk about Bill Cosby (ABC via Getty Images)

The comedian told Brooke that she felt that "in some ways" she was made to be the villain of the show's drama and admits that she wasn't used to not having power in decisions on the show.

"I had produced my own show. I was the solo boss, and here I was not having any power to make decisions," Rosie said.

After her spat with Elisabeth, Rosie and ABC agreed to cut short her contract agreement on May 25, 2007.

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Lauren Gordon