Not so Rosie

The latest it-has-to-be-true-since-it’s-on-the-internet rumor making the rounds is that Rosie O’Donnell will announce later today that she is leaving “The View” at the end of the season. According to TMZ, “sources inside the show” say the word on Rosie’s departure has been spreading throughout Hollywood. No word, however, on why Rosie is exiting the morning chat fest. But if I were one of those people prone to random speculation (which, clearly, I’m not) I would say that the non-stop scrutiny of every single statement finally got to both Rosie and Barbara Walters.

Now, I’m no huge Rosie fan, but it is nice having an open, out and opinionated woman on national television every day. I also like her willingness to go out on a limb and say whatever the hell pops into her head. Of course, problems arise when she doesn’t think things through before she opens her mouth. And they are magnified when she doesn’t grasp the ramifications of those words. Still, overall, I have come to appreciate her presence on the show. She is loud and vocal and there is nothing wrong with that. Plenty of men on TV are loud and vocal and no one calls them nasty names or demands they shut up. What I have disliked most about the media coverage of Rosie is the misogynistic double standard that the exists in each gleeful proclamation of the latest “celebrity feud” or each over-hyped discussion of the newest “controversial comment.” But possibly the worst thing about this news (if it is indeed true) is that you just know it’s going to make Donald Trump’s day. Oy, that schmuck.

UPDATE: Yep, it’s true. Rosie is leaving the building in June when the season is over. Watch it unfold through the powers of the great oracle of our time, the internets. She and Barbara cite that old standby “failed contract negotiations” as the reason. Oh, Rosie. What will Fox News get all hot and bothered about once you’re gone?