Star Jones vs The View

The nasty divorce between Star Jones Reynolds and the ABC morning show "The View" rages on. Star Jones surprised the network and her co-hosts by announcing live, just before a scheduled discussion on air-conditioning, that she was departing the show. This announcement pissed off Barbara Walters and the brass at the network and she was asked to clean out her dressing room and never return!!!

"Star, regrettably, will no longer be on this show," Barbara Walters, the show's co-host and co-owner, told the audience yesterday.

ABC executives and Barbara Walters thought a deal had been worked out for Star's departure, a decision that had been made by ABC "months ago," Ms. Walters said on the air yesterday.
Even though Star's contract had another month to run and she was to appear on the show yesterday, ABC informed her after Tuesday's broadcast that she would not be allowed to continue. Her surprise statement Tuesday came two days before a previously agreed-upon date for the announcement of her departure.

After Tuesday's events, which also included the release of an interview Ms. Jones Reynolds had granted to People magazine, the show's producers decided they could not risk having Ms. Jones Reynolds appear on the live broadcast another day, a point Ms. Walters made clear in her statement on the show: "She made further announcements that have surprised us. So it is becoming uncomfortable for us to pretend that everything is the same at this table."
According to people on both sides of the dispute, "The View" had planned to send Ms. Jones Reynolds off with a farewell show and party on July 13, but those plans have been canceled. In a radio interview yesterday Ms. Jones Reynolds said she felt betrayed because of critical comments directed at her by Rosie O’Donnell, the incoming host on "The View."

In her statement Ms. Walters said the show and network had been working with Ms. Jones Reynolds's representatives to allow her to "leave with dignity," but that Ms. Jones Reynolds has "made another choice." She added, " 'The View' helped make Star a star, and Star helped make 'The View' the success that it is."

A representative of the show said no replacement for Ms. Jones Reynolds had been named yet. The show will use guest hosts until Ms. O'Donnell appears as Meredith Vieira’s replacement in September. Ms. Jones Reynolds is said to be working on plans for another television show and on her line of jewelry.