Earlier this week we heard that Rosie O’Donnell said she had a crush on Elisabeth Hasselbeck, back when they worked together on The View. We didn’t cover that because it was Rosie, honestly, and she doesn’t rate much coverage. You may vaguely remember that Rosie and Elisabeth got into a huge argument when they both worked on The View. I just checked our archives and that happened way back in 2007! It was over Elisabeth calling Iraqi people terrorists and Rosie saying that they didn’t do 9-11 and that a lot of innocent civilians were killed in the US-Iraq war. I sided with Rosie at the time as she was the calmer more reasonable one. Rosie quit The View a couple of days later, with weeks left to go on her one year contract. It’s all ancient history, but Rosie talked about it to Ramin Setoodeh who has that upcoming book out about The View. Rosie said that she had a “little bit of a crush on Elisabeth” and that were “underlying lesbian undertones” to her feud with her. Rosie’s reasoning is hilarious and offensive, I get that.
Joy Behar speculated that O’Donnell had a crush on Hasselbeck, which O’Donnell confirms in the book. “I think there were underlying lesbian undertones on both parts,” O’Donnell says about her working relationship with Hasselbeck. O’Donnell backed up this idea with some dubious evidence. “I think this is something that will hurt her if you write it. She was the MVP of a Division 1 softball team for two years that won the finals. There are not many, in my life, girls with such athletic talent on sports teams that are traditionally male that aren’t at least a little bit gay.”
Although O’Donnell was attracted to Hasselbeck, she never wanted to act on it. “There was a little bit of a crush,” O’Donnell says in the book. “But not that I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to support, raise, elevate her, like she was the freshman star shortstop and I was the captain of the team.” O’Donnell changed sports metaphors from baseball to basketball. “I was going to Scottie Pippen her. If I was Jordan, I was going to give her and the ball and let her shoot. But it was in no way sexualized.”
Yes that is offensive. Well Elisabeth is still one of the fembots on Fox News and she addressed this on the show. You can see the video on US’s site.
“Rosie, I think it was disturbing to read those things and it was offensive to me, but I forgive her,” Hasselbeck said on Fox & Friends. “I totally forgive you, Rosie. … I really hope that we can be at peace and that we can both hold our beliefs in one hand and hold each other’s hand in the other and still have a relationship that’s at peace. … Even more than I want to be at peace with her, I hope she finds that peace because God wants that for her too.”
Of course Elisabeth wielded her faith like a weapon! That’s what those holy roller types do. “I’m praying for you. Jesus makes me better than you. Enjoy eternity in hell.” Also, I just have to say that the hair and makeup artist on Fox and Friends is also obviously Republican. Those people do not know how to blend colors or brush hair. (Screenshot below.) After that Elisabeth went on The View and kept talking about how she’s praying for Rosie. I’m not going to recap that but you can read it here.
Then Rosie tweeted one of her fragmented incomprehensible responses.
hey eh – my crush on u was not sexual – sorry u got scared – ❤️surely u recall b4 it all went wrong – i never objectified u – i did find u fantastic – broadway shows – my pool -we were friends once ❤️ god love ya kid – i always did #hasselbeck #raminSUX
— ROSIE (@Rosie) March 26, 2019
I like that she added “my pool” as if it’s some tryst they had together. I wonder what the #raminsux hashtag is though. Is Rosie denouncing the quotes she gave Setoodeh for his book? We’ll probably never know and I’m completely ok with that.
photos credit: WENN and screenshot from Youtube via ET
oh geez.
I’m gay, and it’s 100% inappropriate and bigoted to say that any woman who plays sports is gay.
Bisexual here, and totally agree. Maybe because I’m jealous that I have NO athletic ability?
But in all seriousness, Rosie, please stop stereotyping LGBTQ+ people. I know you were a trailblazer in the 90’s, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay stuck in the mentality of that era. I am dissapointed.
Exactly.
Bisexual too & agree 100%. She should have left that part out of it. It’s silly but predictable that Elisabeth would be offended by her being attracted to her though.
Totally what I took away from this. That just plays into a stereotype that doesn’t help any woman, gay or straight. Ugh, WTF Rosie?
“There are not many, in my life, girls with such athletic talent on sports teams that are traditionally male that aren’t at least a little bit gay.”
I don’t care about Rosie or the other chick, but this is one of the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read.
a) Are stereotypes OK if they’re said by a member of a traditionally maligned group?
b) Since when is softball a traditionally male sport?
I played sports, so did my daughter, we’re not gay FFS. What an idiotic thing to say.
Thank you. This is statement is so offensive.
It’s the flip side of the same old homophobia coin. Sigh.
Lol most people are trying to teach their kids it’s okay to play with dolls or trucks, wear pink or blue, etc and Rosie comes along saying athletic women are all a little gay.
I mean it’s funny in the sense that of course Elisabeth would be offended at the accusation because gay is bad, but it’s completely offensive in every other way. Not cool, Rosie.
I’m not sure if she really believes that, if she was making a joke, or if she was saying it just to get under Elisabeth’s skin?
Homophobia bugs me. I truly do not understand that the mere whiff of homosexuals drives conservatives to a tizzy. Many in the community will not objectify and harrass like many in the straight community community do. Legit, what is the effing fear?
Because their bibles tell them that it’s a sin and they’re incapable of independent thought?
The Bible doesn’t say homosexuality is a sin. The Bible says the act of physical intimacy between two people of the same sex is a sin (sodomy for men and/or I forget what it is between two women). The First Nations peoples elevate “two-spirited” folks to spiritual leadership roles. Celibacy is the preferred option for those who are attracted to their own sex, is my understanding. I am not an expert, this is my understanding and interpretation of those passages in the Bible, as applied to society, then and now. They are meant to be wise counsel for both men and women (again, my understanding and interpretation).
Re Rosie: did she choose softball because of ‘League of Their Own’ do you think?
Wut? So two men or two women could live together and act as a committed couple in all ways except for physical sex and the Bible would be OK with it?
“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell as Long as You’re Not Having Sex”?
Someone should tell this to American evangelicals and Fox News.
I don’t get it either. Homosexuality horrifies them but they are ok w electing an adulterous SOB to he POTUS. wtf?
Yikes. I am not cool with Rosie casually throwing out “she played softball” stuff. I think it’s great when girls/young women play sports in high school and college. And while gay acceptance has increased over the years, there is still homophobia (see below) and I would hate for one of its many bad effects being girls in high school not wanting to play sports because they were afraid of being taunted and bullied by homophobes.
That said, Hasselbeck’s reaction was RIDICULOUS and homophobic. She should have been flattered. Jeez. Another person expressed fondness for you. It’s a great thing, not something to be “prayed over.”
If this is the same book I’m thinking of, I think the #Raminsux is in reference to the author
tried to make headlines about Rosie’s Fathers Sex abuse, which she acknowledged to him but didn’t expect for him to dine out on so publicly…
He’s the same guy who asked Cate Blanchett if she ever had relationships with women and she said “‘Yes, many times. Do you mean have I had sexual relationships with women? Then the answer is no.’”
He quoted her as saying “Yes, many times” to make it look like she was saying she dated women. Then he defended himself by saying he didn’t alter the quote. No he didn’t alter it, he left out the next sentence to completely remove context.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but whoo boy does Elisabeth Hasselbeck look totally fcking different these days! I had to do a double take when she was a guest a few days ago. I don’t say this often because I’m so bad at parsing plastic surgery, but my god, she’s come a long way from what she looked liked on The View twelve years ago.
I don’t like the gay-softball stereotype, but for the opposite reason. I find that it makes a lot of the straight girls who join these sports teams almost unbearably homophobic, to the point where it’s disgusting, and where a lot of the lesbian and bisexual women I know have had to go out of their way to hide their sexuality because they didn’t want to get bullied and ostracized by straight girls who can’t contend with the stereotype and therefore have to overcompensate.
Straight woman in sports and straight feminists are two of the most homophobic groups of women I have ever met in my life, equal only to religious nut SAHM. You can’t make it 5 minutes before one of them gets mortally offended at you possibly mistaking them for a gay woman.
Like, chill out Jessica, nobody is sending You to conversion therapy, nobody is kicking You out of the house, nobody is kicking You off the team, nobody is playing a game of fucking You into heterosexuality – you actually Are into males and the Tom Dick and Harry you refuse to shut up about clearly mark you as one one the “normal women” unlike those “nasty hairy man hating dykes” you keep raging about.
I have never been deeper into the closet than while associating with them, once I found my own gay circle in soccer and feminism I left and never looked the fuck back.
L.O.L.
the hair and makeup is obviously republican – bwahhh – i spit my juice
get ready for a slew of republicans sending you links to makeup tutorials by right wingers to prove they can blend their contour….
Can we please send these two offensive creatures back to the Bush era from whence they came?
Yes, PLEASE.
Yes. I don’t need to see or hear from either of them.
Rosie especially with that stereotype bullshirt.
It was a joke…why is that so hard for people to understand? Lighten up.
@studiotodd I 100% see how it was “just” a softball joke, and it IS kind of funny, but…
A lot of guys used to “joke” “with” me by making little barbed comments about my hobbies and interests (hardware stores! cowboy hats!). I think those men had angry, mean little crushes, and in one case the comments were coming from my manager. He insinuated at least once a week that I was gay and living a lie, usually in front of others for a laugh.
It was many years later that I learned this constitutes workplace harassment. I was also young and still figuring myself out, and the manager made me feel really bad about myself. It hurt me. I think it probably set me back another 7, 8 years.
Speculating about someone else’s sexuality in public, even under the guise of a “joke,” is so damaging to people who are closeted, questioning, or even none-of-the-above. It turns sexual preference into a punchline, into something that is *humiliating* to others, and that is such an unhealthy attitude to perpetuate.
All that said: I totally make u-haul jokes at my OWN expense — nobody is getting outed but me! — and my husband and I, both bi, speculate about people’s sexualities together, aaaall the tiiiiime. Catty and in private, the way it should be! lol
Obviously Rosie shouldn’t take a position on women’s sports that might cause anyone to either not participate or be an object of bigotry. But I also find Elizabeth offensive when she says : “ I hope she finds peace because God wants that for her too.”
This is what Jesus said that I wish Elizabeth and most Evangelicals would remember:
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners that they might be seen by others.”
You never know what Rosie is going to say these days so I cringed before I even read it but her response made me laugh.
Obviously not every female who likes or plays sports is gay duh.
So what if homophobes think you are gay because you play softball. So what?
Let’s remember how that became a line of questioning in the Elena Kegan Supreme Court hearings — Republican Congressmen were absolutely trying to tank her nomination by using the whole ‘didn’t you use to play softball’ as a dog whistle for ‘She’s a lesbian!’ Can’t have her on the court.
All JMO however,
I think both of these women just suck as people.
Hasslebeck’s 15-mins were over long ago and Rosie is a straight up pimp who uses other women and her wealth to her hearts desire.
I used to like her wayy back when she had her own talk show and was nice to everyone.
She is a bigot and has a big mouth in my opinion. Something happened to change her and, not for the better.
I don’t think Rosie was ever really nice, she’s just talented. Nice was a persona that she did very well every day. Deep down, she’s a very damaged person with dysfunctional coping skills.
I was just reading about Nina Simone and I had no idea what a mess her life was, she was super talented and couldn’t sustain relationships.
I’d brush it off if I were Hassleback or however you spell her name. If there was a silent crush so be it, if there wasn’t , so be it. Who cares.
I’D be much more concerned with myself that I joined Fox news. And that I’m kinda a conservative intolerant bible thumping jerk. That’s where I would be annoyed with myself. I personally could never stand that preppy self righteous Hassleback idiot. That’s my right.
As for females who play sports being a little “gay” ….lol. That’s stupid. Stereotypical and ignorant. Some people just prefer athletics.
It wasn’t like Elisabeth was any kind of mental gymnast.
Also, maybe Rosie was joking or has info we don’t. Maybe Lis flirted off camera cause she seems the type to be sweet and phoney to ones face and quote the bible on camera.
Rosie is a creep. I don’t think Elisabeth was scared by a lesbian having a crush on her but that she cant stand Rosie, like the rest of us cant stand Rosie. I am by no means homophobic and I would be creeped out and grossed out by Rosies words.
At first joys accusation of Rosie having a crush on Elisabeth to me seemed like a patronizing way to undermine Rosie’s strong disagreement with Elisabeth on most political issues. Its like saying, ‘youre just jealous’ after explaining why u dislike or disagree with someone. I’ve been treated like that, told I had a crush on a rude patronizing obnoxious childish classmate and it was an insulting attempt to silence me- but Rosie admits here that she seemed to hope Elisabeth was ‘somewhat’ a lesbian
Could it be that Rosie invoked gay stereotypes and Elizabeth responded with a bit of homophobia? They both seem like walking, talking trigger bombs to me. Neither have any semblance of self awareness.
This!