View co-host Sherri Shepherd drew a lot of ire yesterday when quotes were published from an interview she gave to a black Christian women’s magazine in which she claimed she had more abortions than she would like to count and that she sometimes prayed for televangelists to “save” Barbara Walters.

On “saving” Barbara Walters: It was a joke
Shepherd said she was joking about saving Walters and that she called Walters personally ahead of the interview being published to apologize. She said Walters was in France at the time and she laughed and said “I’m already in Heaven, I’m in Paris.” Shepherd also apologized again on air to Walters, who was not on the panel that day. Walters grew up with Jewish parents, but her father was an atheist and she was not raised going to temple or church. Walters did a piece on religion in 2005 in which she explored her own background and belief system. She said she was most affected by a visit with the Dalai Lama, after which she felt at peace for a couple of weeks. She has not been “saved” in the Christian sense.

On having more abortions than she could count: it was taken out of context
Many of you pointed out in the comments that Jaybird’s title that Shepherd had more abortions than she could count was technically inaccurate, because she had said it was more than she would like to count, which is much different. She was saying it was painful for her to remember them and not that there were so many she lost track.

Shepherd said that the author didn’t print her entire quote about her abortions, which she is open about because she wants to “inspire women who go through a lot of shame and guilt about having abortions.” She said the full quote was that she had suffered a lot of shame and guilt and that “a wonderful woman at one of the women’s conferences I speak at came to me and said, ‘Sherri, you know when you get to heaven all your babies are going to be there saying, ‘Hi momma.” and it just kind of freed me and I knew that Jesus had forgiven me.

“I wasn’t being flippant about abortions. I wasn’t glamorizing.”

Joy Behar said that society puts a lot of shame on abortions and Shepherd said that’s why she came out to talk about it.

Shepherd isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but I kind of admire her for talking about this so openly when there’s such a huge stigma attached to abortion. She does deserve credit for being open about something that can so easily be mocked. It also has to be hard for her to see her words twisted around to being some dismissive comment about having multiple abortions instead of the way she meant it, that she carried around a lot of guilt and shame and wants other women to hear that she suffered with it silently too.

Shepherd got confused in December when they were talking about history on The View and she kept insisting that “I don’t think anything predated Christians.. Jesus came first” in history and didn’t seem to get the whole B.C./A.D. idea. She also doesn’t believe in Evolution at all and says she’s never thought about whether the world is flat or not.

As JayBird mentioned yesterday, it’s pretty inspirational that Shepherd went through such a tough life and is now a co-host on such a big show, especially considering that she doesn’t seem to have basic knowledge of history and science. God can’t substitute for an education.

Sherri Shepherd is shown at the Daytime Emmy Awards on 6/20/2008. Credit: Glenn Harris / PR Photos

There’s yet another feud brewing among the women who host ABC talkshow The View. In Touch claims to have insider information that some of the hosts on the panel are complaining about how often executive producer Barbara Walters talks about her bestselling biography, Audition. Joy Behar has a book that could really use the on-air publicity, and Sherri Shepherd has a new memoir coming out, but neither have been allowed to mention their books much and are complaining to higher-ups:

An insider tells In Touch that Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck aren’t happy that Barbara keeps using the ABC talk show to shill her memoir Audition. “Off the air, the co-hosts have complained to executives that the show has become an infomercial for Barbara,” says the insider. Adding to the annoyance? “Joy didn’t get to promote her recent book When You Need a Lift nearly as much, and Sherri has been asked to wait to announce her deal for her outn memoir, Permission Slips, until Barbara’s summer book tour is over,” says the insider. A rep for The View denies that there’s any tension over the book.

[From In Touch, print edition, July 14, 2008]

Barbara Walters really came off as a shrew while she was promoting that book. She rudely said to Ellen that ““I love you whether you ever read my book,” even though Ellen was praising different parts of the book and asking questions about it. Walters essentially dissed Ellen by suggesting she hadn’t read it.

There was also a controversy over the married US Senator she admitted having an affair with and the way she so candidly talked about the debacle with Star Jones getting freebies for her wedding by mentioning sponsors right on the show. Barbara also told Oprah that it was obvious Star had gastric bypass surgery, something Star had previously admitted, but said that it was ridiculous that Star kept insisting on air that pilates and diet were helping her lose weight so quickly. Of course Star deserves the criticism and she shot back with a rude ass response of her own. It seems that Barbara isn’t so different than Star and will use the show for her own purposes as much as she wants to.

I’ve watched The View both with Barbara Walters and without, and the interviews flow better when she’s not there. She asks rude questions and sits there like a smug queen. Whoopi really pulls that show together and adds a lot of humor. She should be in charge and Barbara should retire.

Photo credits: Walters is shown at The Trover Shop bookstore in Washington, DC on 5/8/08, thanks to photographer Carrie Devorah for WENN.

Kate Hudson was on “The View” this morning, and Barbara Walters mentioned that she was having lunch with Lance Armstrong later that day and said “I’m having lunch with Lance Armstrong and you’re not.” She asked Kate if she would care to confirm the rumors about her and Lance and Kate got all flustered and started laughing. She said “I think somebody told me he was going to be on the show next week. You should ask him.”

Kate said “um” a bunch of times, and said “yeah… I try not to talk about my personal life…. I just feel like every time you talk about anything in your personal life it becomes like a headline that becomes a different headline.”

Here’s that section of the interview:

Kate’s response is similar to what she told Ryan Seacrest about how it’s “better to let people speculate,” and seems like a very wise way to handle it.

Kate also talked about her parents’ trip around Europe. She said her mom, Goldie Hawn, and her partner of 26 years, Kurt Russell, (who she calls “dad”) are currently in Greece and that they’ve taken a cooking class and bike trip. She calls them “so cute” and says they send her pictures of their vacation.

Hudson’s hairdresser, David Babaii, came on stage and they talked about their new haircare line, Wild Aid. She said they’ve worked on the line together for three years and tried to make it affordable and with all natural ingredients. Kate said someone she works with developed breast cancer and that inspired her to make sure that she wasn’t using harmful body or haircare products.

Here’s a link to the whole interview, thanks to Redlasso.

And here’s Kate looking cute today in NY, thanks to Splash News.

Dina and Ali Lohan at the Georgia Rule premiere on 5/8/07. I just thought this photo was funny. Thanks to WENN

Dina and Ali Lohan were on “The View” this morning to promote their new E! reality show, “Living Lohan,” which premieres tonight. They both repeated the mantra they’ve been using for the show all along: that they’re a normal family, that they’re using the show to dispel rumors about them, and that Ali just wants to be a singer without all the drama from the tabloids.

Ali said she’s not scared that doing the show might interfere with her life. As for having a hard time due to the show, she said “they trash me now, and I’m only 14. They said I got a nose job and that isn’t true.” She also said that Lindsay helps her make decisions about her fame: “My sister has definitely helped me, and she’s told me what to do and what not to do.”

Dina defended Lindsay using the same argument she always does, saying “She’s 21 and people forget how we were when we were 21. And unfortunately she had to go through so much publicly, and you don’t ask for that.”

Dina says she doesn’t party with Lindsay and that she’s targeted because she’s a woman
Joy Behar asked Dina about her bad reputation. “You have a reputation in the tabloids and maybe you want to clear some things up today. One of the things they say is that you and Lindsay were going out partying together. That when she was having a hard time with her personal stuff you were not there for her.”

Dina answered “That’s absolutely not true. I manage her and there are dads that are managers, I won’t mention names, in the business… she would have an event at a club and they would say I’m at a club, which is completely not true. I think they target women more than they do men unfortunately. It’s a man’s world. I was targeted and I was going through a lot publicly with the divorce and people just start rumors. I know who I am and trust me, I don’t party. I would rather go to dinner with everyone in this audience than with a 21 year-old.”

Just last year, Dina Lohan admitted that she loved partying and admitted lying to celebrities about being Lindsay’s mom
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar last year, Dina said “If you can button it and clip it when you’re in your 40s, you’re going out” and then put her hand up to get a high five from the reporter. She also told a story about how she lied to George Clooney and told him she was Lindsay’s assistant because she didn’t want to admit to being her mom. She said “I don’t want them to know I’m her mom. It’s a whole ‘nother demographic. People just go dark.” How is that a fabricated story by the tabloids or people targeting her because she’s a woman? Dina said it herself. You can see where Lindsay got her flexible idea of what constitutes the truth.

Here’s the video:

Democratic presidential nomination hopeful Senator Barack Obama was on “The View” this morning and had an amazing interview. The first part of the interview focused on Obama’s longtime reverend, Jeremiah Wright, and the anti-American comments Wright has made over the course of his career. Obama hasn’t renounced Wright, but hasn’t wholeheartedly defended him either. He explained that when he joined the church, he didn’t have his revered vetted. Wright was a powerful speaker and Obama was generally just another member of the congregation. He and his wife Michelle were married in Wright’s church and their daughters were baptized there, but as he pointed out, he hadn’t read every church bulletin, or gone over Wright’s old sermons. He also pointed out that a key point is that Wright is retired now, so it’s not as though there needs to be a call for him to step down from anything. Obama did a good job of gracefully walking a very fine line.

In the second part of the interview, host Whoopi Goldberg ask Barack Obama what the first three things are that he’d do in office. Obama replied that he would start withdrawing the troops from Iraq, and doing his best to make sure it was done in a safe and fair manner for both the troops and Iraqis. He said he didn’t think the Iraqis were going to take responsibility for their own country as long as American troops were there. Obama said the second thing he would do is work on getting healthcare for every American, and even went so far to say that for people that didn’t have healthcare, the government would offer plans similar to the healthcare he has as a senator. He pointed out how important it is to return to a focus on preventative health care, which over the long-term saves costs. Finally he said he’d deal with America’s energy crisis, focusing on developing new technology to lesson our reliance on foreign oil.

Some of Obama’s most powerful remarks came in the final part of the interview, where he talked about the differences and similarities between republicans and democrats. He noted, “I am not somebody who believes that the democrats have a monopoly on wisdom,” and said that he would consider having republicans in his cabinet. He also made a dig at President Bush, saying, “I’ve got some very strong views about how we need to move the country forward, but I don’t presume I’m right all the time; I want to listen to people – something that I think our current president hasn’t done – [and] get a diversity of opinion.” Obama also touched on one of his common themes of optimism and hope, and the unity he feels Americans actually have, noting, “The one thing I’m convinced of as I travel around the country is we have so much more in common than what drives us apart.”

Snoop Dogg was on “The View” this morning to promote his new reality show “Father Hood” on E! and he charmed every woman on that panel.

He talked about his new CD, Ego Trippin, in which he sings and mixes genres such as R&B and even country.

Barbara Walters mentioned that Snoop is no longer doing only gangster rap, and that he’s matured. She said “no more gangs, no more pot,” and he said “I didn’t say that!” She asked what vices he’s given up since becoming a responsible dad. Snoop said he doesn’t drink, but that he has a medical condition he didn’t specify and that he needs medical marijuana. Joy mentioned glaucoma and Snoop scrunched up his eyes and said “I can’t see that good!”

Barbara pressed “What you’re saying it’s only medical marijuana.”
Snoop: “Only medical, no street weed… I have a license and everything”

They show a clip of Snoop doing yoga on his reality show and Joy says “he’s stoned, that’s why he’s lying like that.”

Snoop said that every strong man has a strong woman and that his wife runs the house and takes care of everything.

Joy Behar then brought up the fact that Snoop is a former pimp and asked him for advice for governor Spitzer.

Snoop said “It’s too late for advice now. If he’d seen me before… it would have been real discrete and would not have exposed his game. He would still be able to be client number nine.”

Whoopi then questioned Snoop about guys dating his daughter in the future that might be like he was in the past and he said “I can’t fix what I’ve done in the past, all I can do is be better today.”

Snoop talked about his youth football league and also confirmed that he’ll be a guest on the soap opera “One Life to Live,” and said he got hooked on soaps when he was young and got suspended from school a lot. According to the Miami Herald, his episodes will air May 8 and 9.

Snoop mentioned his clothing lines for women, men, and dogs, and said he’s just trying to give everyone some of that Snoop Kool aid.

Here’s the full interview with Snoop. Why do I have a crush on this guy?

Here’s the short clip where he gives advice to Spitzer.

And his performance:

Snoop is shown performing on 2/28/08, thanks to PRPhotos. Thanks so much to Redlasso for these clips.

Whoopi Goldberg and her colleagues on The View wondered aloud on Monday why the comedian wasn’t shown hosting the ceremony in the many clip montages shown at Sunday night’s Oscars. Whoopi was the first woman and the first African American to host the top Hollywood awards ceremony, and she served as emcee in 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2002. There was no specific clip montage dedicated solely to the hosts, but one that included other hosts didn’t have anything with Whoopi. She was seen accepting her award for best supporting actress for 1990’s Ghost. (She was the second of four black women to be awarded a statue in the event’s 80 year history.) Whoopi also mentioned on The View that she didn’t see two time host Steve Martin in any of the clips, either.

The producer of the Oscars has spoken about the slight, and unlike Brad Renfro’s exclusion from the In Memoriam clip, which they didn’t say was a mistake but claimed “It is simply not possible to include everyone in that segment,” Whoopi wasn’t left out on purpose:

“No harm was intended, and I feel very, very badly that she was left out,” Gil Cates said Tuesday. “I’m going to call her and tell her that.”

Although described as a montage of hosts, the piece shown at Sunday night’s telecast on ABC was actually “supposed to be a montage of 80 exciting moments of the Academy Awards” culled from hundreds of hours of footage, says Cates. “Basically, that was not a montage about hosts.”

He noted that former host Steve Martin also wasn’t in the montage.

Still, Cates said, “It was an absolute oversight” to leave out Goldberg, an Oscar winner and nominee who had hosted telecasts that Cates himself produced.

“I asked her to be on the show. She did it twice,” he said. “She is a formidable talent.”

[From People.com]

They were probably just looking for the most sensational clips and were scrambling to put those segments together ahead of the show. More care should have been taken to make sure that people were honored that deserved to be, though.

We thought that the Oscars were the most entertaining ever this year and although they were long they kept it moving well, with both funny jokes and well produced clips. Not many journalists agreed with us, and neither did the viewing audience. People called the Oscars unfunny and antiquated, and way too long to fit into anyone’s schedule. The Oscars had their lowest rating ever this year, which might also have to do with the fact that no blockbuster films were nominated. Only Juno took in more than $100 million at the box office, and that started out as an indie film.

Whoopi Goldberg hosted the Oscars in 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2002. She was the first woman to host the event, the first African American to host, the first Oscar winner to host, and the second African American woman to even win an Oscar, one of just four black female winners in the event’s 80 year history. She was shown accepting her award in the Oscar clip montages at last night’s Academy Awards, but wasn’t shown during one of her many hosting gigs.

Hattie McDaniel, the first black woman to win an Oscar, was also shown getting her Oscar in one of the clips. They didn’t show her walking all the way to the front of the room from the specially designated table for her and her guest at the very back. She won in 1939 for her hackneyed role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. It was a whole 50 years before another black woman took home a statue, and that was Whoopi. Halle Berry was of course shown giving her weepy over-the-top Oscar acceptance speech for best actress in 2001. She was the third African American woman to win an Oscar, and was followed by Jennifer Hudson for best supporting actress in 2006.

Whoopi talked about the apparent snub of her contribution to the event Monday on the roundtable talkshow she co-hosts, The View. Barbara Walters mentioned that she did see a clip of Whoopi accepting the award. Whoopi said that the video where the hosts were seen also failed to show Steve Martin, who hosted in 2001 and 2003 and Barbara said it was more of an Oscar memories video than one honoring all the hosts.

Whoopi said “Undoubtedly I pissed somebody off yet again.”

I definitely saw Ellen Degeneres hosting in one if the clips shown last night, and she was the second woman to host after Whoopi and only hosted once. Maybe the people who put the clips together were focusing more on the acceptance speeches and memorable moments and were under the gun and didn’t miss her on purpose. There weren’t many hosts in the clips unless something interesting happened.

The Academy’s clip montage team also failed to include a one or two second mention of Brad Renfro in their In Memoriam clip. A representative told TMZ that “It is simply not possible to include everyone in that segment.”

Here’s a link to an over four minute tribute to Brad Renfro, created by MissyVintage on YouTube. Just because someone dies of a drug overdose doesn’t mean their life was any less worthwhile than someone else’s. Not that the Academy was biased in excluding Renfro or Whoopi or anything.

Yesterday we got some heat for saying that Kathleen Turner seemed drunk on “The Today Show.” Many of you pointed out that she has a debilitating disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, and that any head-bobbing or speech slurring we picked out could be due to the effects of her medical condition and/or the medications she takes to cope with the pain. She’s been very outspoken about both the chronic pain she has and the way she’s tried to cope by self medicating with alcohol, a subject she covers in her new biography. Some of you commented that she looked fine in the video and that you could see nothing wrong with her while others said that she did look drunk and they recognized the signs from their loved ones.

Today on The View she again seemed a bit out of it, but she got through the interview fine and clearly explained herself, talking about her book and her chronic illness. She said that “living with chronic pain everyday is like torture… and that really led to the discover that alcohol kills pain. And then of course it went to excess, and I was drinking too much.” She said that when she did the play The Graduate she called a meeting with the cast and told them that she would take a pill every day, which sounded like Antabuse, so that they knew she could not drink.

Barbara Walters did question her directly about whether she still drinks and she admitted to wine occasionally. The moment where Barbara asked her about her drinking is at 1:05 into the clip, and she said she has “none of these urges” where she felt the “need to completely escape.”

As for Nicholas Cage being miffed about what she wrote about him, she repeated the same thing she told Matt Lauer yesterday. She said “I’m very sorry to have caused him any discomfort. It was over 20-some years ago, so it certainly wasn’t my intention to harm, and I think that’s all I’m supposed to say about it.”

Turner’s book, “Send Yourself Roses,” is currently available through Amazon.com.

Is conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh back on painkillers again? Huffington Post is reporting that Limbaugh got a little too up close and personal with Joy Behar, the stand up comedienne and co-host of ABC’s “The View.” At a movie screening in New York, Limbaugh reportedly ‘nuzzled’ with Behar as she was taking off her coat– much to her surprise.

Rush Limbaugh may be dating 31-year old blonde Kathryn Rogers when he is in Florida, but last night in New York he let loose and had a 64-year old redhead on the brain: Joy Behar. On their respective shows this morning, both Regis Philbin and Joy Behar discussed the way Rush (whose escort for the evening was 82-year old Cindy Adams) greeted Joy at last night’s screening of Bob Balaban’s “Bernard and Doris.”

Joy: “All of a sudden this humongous person comes up to me, from the left, a famous person — big guy — and snuggles and nestles my neck. Hello, Joy! And gives me the big kiss….squeezed me to death also.”

Regis had a different spin: “Joy Behar’s face was flushed. She enjoyed it. She LOVED IT!

[From Huffington Post]

The HuffPo posted this video of Joy discussing her unexpected brush with Limbaugh on Friday morning’s episode of “The View.” I can’t read minds, but I wouldn’t say that she “loved it.” In fact, the whole thing seemed like it shocked and embarrassed her.

This would be a most unusual pairing: Limbaugh has been the abrasive voice of conservative talk show radio since the late 1980s. In 2003, the host tearfully admitted, on-air, that he had been abusing prescription pain killers (after the National Enquirer had already reported it). He came under fire recently for his claims that Michael J. Fox was exaggerating his symptoms of Parkinson’s disease for sympathy. Joy Behar is quite vocal about her liberalism, and recently grilled Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on “The View” about his stance on abortion. Joy claims that after Limbaugh held her in an extended hug and nuzzled her neck, he advised her to “be bold.” “It was the best advice anyone has ever given me,” she said, rolling her eyes. Behar has a live-in boyfriend and has vowed never to marry again.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Remember when Rush kissed Mary Lynn Rajskub of 24?