'The View' Rosie O'Donnell Fights With Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie Perez: Feud Escalates On Camera After Talk Of Bill Cosby Rape!
The View has been making headlines this season for its backstage drama involving co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O'Donnell, Rosie Perez, and Nicolle Wallace, but the fireworks were flying on-camera today when the hot topic turned to the Bill Cosby rape allegations.
Whoopi started the discussion by showing The Cosby Show star asking an Associated Press reporter not to use video of him not answering questions about the rape allegations against him. Rosie O. chimed in with her thoughts, looking visibly upset.
"There are lots of allegations starting in 1969," she started out saying. "There are many, many, many, and it's very hard, I think, for any of us to discuss Bill Cosby in this context. Because he is the beloved father image, the benevolent father that we as a society hold in some way. Even for, you know, anyone who has been the victim of sexual abuse to believe that somebody that you love or know could do that is a very difficult thing. So to even talk about it I think is hard."
Rosie P. then gave her opinion on the piling on that occurs during a scandal such as this.
"It's hard, but not hard for people to talk about it on social media," the Do the Right Thing actress said. "I think that that, to me, is the response of NBC and Netflix and TV Land because they're responding to the mob who are very upset with the allegations, and I think that's a big, big statement. It's a really, really big statement... in this world of the internet and the information highway and social media, I think that it's pretty fascinating that public opinion can turn the tide."
"Well, the only way that this news story became public again was because a male, African-American comedian [Hannibal Burress] put it in his act after Googling it and then Howard Stern put him on his show and then all these other women came out as well and said, 'it happened to me,'" Rosie O. fired back.
Nicolle then got in on the conversation stating she really doesn't know if the allegations are true or not.
"Mark Whitaker, who's a very well-respected journalist and author of a new biography Cosby and His Life, decided not to include the allegations in his book because he couldn't confirm them independently," she said. "It's unknowable, I see the facts as unknowable, but I mean, am I missing something?"
Rosie P. then became angry after she felt Rosie O. was putting the brunt of her anger on the Fearless star.
"I'm not being insincere towards the women who have made these allegations," Rosie P. said. "If they're true, it's horrific and it's horrible and he should pay the price. That's not the issue, Rosie, and I don't want you to put that on me. I don't think that's fair."
At one point, Whoopi made a noise, while Rosie O. was speaking. This got the League of Their Own actress upset, but in an awkward reply Whoopi said she was just adjusting her chair.
Do you think Rosie O. went too far or was she right to go after her co-hosts?