The War of the Nipped and Tucked


There's a major throw-down brewing between Baba Wawa and Star Jones, and, for the first time in my life, I may tune into the exceptionally shitty "The View" to see who grabs whose wig first. Apparently Barbara felt "betrayed" that Star announced her departure from "The View" early, and basically blamed Babs for getting her canned. So now "The View" wants her out. Today. Ouch! LOVES IT!

From .People Magazine

After the View cohost Star Jones Reynolds announced on the air Tuesday that she would leave the show in July, her network had a response: Leave now.

According to a source close to Jones Reynolds, "ABC has asked her not to return to the View tomorrow morning."

ABC could not be reached by press time, but a source close to the show confirmed that Star had been asked not to return.

Jones Reynolds, who helped launch the chatfest and spent nine years at the View table alongside Barbara Walters, Joy Behar and the newly departed Meredith Vieira, who left to replace Katie Couric on NBC's Today, says the split was anything but amicable.

"What you don't know is that my contract was not renewed for the tenth season," she tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I feel like I was fired." She adds that she got the news just days before reports surfaced that Rosie O'Donnell – one of her most vocal critics – would be joining the View in the fall.

In her announcement Tuesday, Jones Reynolds, 44, said on the air: "Something's been on my heart for a little bit, and after much prayer and counsel I feel like this is the right time to tell you that the show is moving in another direction for its tenth season and I will not be returning as cohost next year."

"That's shocking to me," interrupted Behar, prompting Jones Reynolds to link hands with her cohosts.

Walters, the show's creator, wrapped up the discussion by saying: "It is a new chapter for Star. It will be a new chapter for the View in the fall."

As for where she'll go next, Jones Reynolds said, "I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm absolutely sure who holds the future."

For more details of Jones Reynolds's firing and her feelings about Rosie O'Donnell's 'hurtful' comments, pick up this week's PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

UPDATE: The latest from "The View" wars, courtesy of Perez Hilton

Star Jones is gonna milk getting fired from The View for all it's worth!

However, Barbara Walters is not going to go down without a fight.

This morning on the show, it was just Barbara, Joy and Elizabitch. And, the producers already had Starzilla's photos removed from the opening credits!!!
LOVE IT!!

"And then there were three," Barbara joked. The audience laughs and then the Walters says, "Star made the announcement yesterday that she was leaving the show, and we were surprised by her announcement yesterday. However, Star also made some other announcements yesterday that have been quite unpleasant. The truth is, Star has known that she was leaving the show for quite some time now and the network refused to renew her contract for reasons that I will not go into now. However, we wanted to give her extra time to find a new job and exit the show gracefully. We told her she could say anything she wanted to, but she made other announcements yesterday as well. The View made Star a star, and Star made the View a successful show. We wish her all the best."

And then she said they'd be right back with hot topics.

YOWZA!

UPDATE #2: More from Perez--this shit keeps getting better and better!:

Earlier this morning, Big Gay Al's wife called in to Ryan Seacrest's morning radio show on KIIS FM in Los Angeles and pretty much blew her wad early, telling him everything that went down with her departure from the show.

No need to watch her on Larry King tonight. We're sure CNN will be pleased!

And, as a public service announcement to all our readers, Perez personally transcribed Star's interview with Ryan today.

Here are some highlights!

Star on her professionalism:For the last two months, I've come in and done the show as normal every day. I walked in there. I've been 100% professional. I've shared my life. I've done what I do for the last nine years. And, in reality I've known for two months that The View was not renewing my contract and I still went in and did my job every - single - day!

Star on being asked to leave the show:Barbara and the producers and ABC specifically told me when they wanted an announcement to come, the last week of June. They specifically asked me to stay until the middle of July. Now you know me. Emotionally when they first say your contract is not renewed, my initial desire was, "I want to walk, get the heck out of there. I don't need to put up with this."

Star on Star:It didn't sound right for me when they were saying your ratings have gone done. I said, well wait a minute, I've seen the ratings. The top five shows in the year you're talking about were about me and planning the wedding. It didn't sound right. But then I thought about it and said, "Don't be emotional. Be professional." A lot of people's jobs depend on my doing my job. So I specifically - specifically - tried to do my job to the best of my ability.

Star on her surprise announcement:We had always planned to make the announcement this week. We had planned to make it on Thursday. But I woke up on Tuesday morning and after so much media, so much speculation, it was time for me to say goodbye right now.

Star on Barbara being a bitch:From what I understand, Barbara never told Joy and Elizabeth [that I was getting fired]. Period!

Star on Rosie:I'm not trying to be emotional about this. I understand it was a business decision. I understood it was a business decision when I was told then. But then in that same week, I was told they were adding a new co-host and it was Rosie O'Donnell. And that was the same week that she had been so nasty and vicious towards me. She insulted me. She tried to damage me professionally and personally.

Star on being betrayed:It's a little shocking to me that Barbara feels betrayed. I was really surprised that Barbara feels betrayed. If you watched me yesterday, I said that she was the most amazing mentor and I thanked her for the most amazing opportunity. My departure was orchestrated some time ago. And while I can accept any business decision, it's hard to accept the manner in which it was handled during the last two months. But, if you use words like betrayal, if anyone should be betrayed, it should be me! Barbara didn't have my back.