Rosie's Gone From "The View"
Rosie O'Donnell has fought her last fight at "The View."
ABC said Friday that O'Donnell has asked for, and received, an early exit from her contract at the daytime chat fest 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 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 snippy 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."
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?"Photos: Rosie O'Donnell
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.
Also on Friday, the network said that promotional photos of Hasselbeck that hang in "The View's" offices had been defaced but did not say by whom.
However, the New York Post reported that Janette Barber, O'Donnell's chief writer, was escorted from the building after she was caught drawing moustaches on the photos. The newspaper said that Barber is an old friend of O'Donnell who worked with her on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show."
O'Donnell was not on the show Thursday because she was celebrating her partner's 40th birthday and Friday's broadcast was previously recorded.
Even before the fight on Wednesday, O'Donnell posted a message on her blog that said she wanted to "move on" from the show.
On Thursday, 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."
A video she posted on Friday seemed more upbeat. The clip showed photos of her time with Barbara Walters and Hasselbeck on "The View," a retrospective of sorts. Cyndi Lauper's "Sisters of Babylon" played in the background.