Celebs Who Can't Stand Elisabeth Hasselbeck
For ten years, Survivor alum Elisabeth Hasselbeck occupied the token right-winger chair on the daytime round table chat show The View. An outspoken conservative, Hasselbeck's role seemed to be to counterbalance the more left-leaning members of the panel, which led to more than a few memorable showdowns.
Her biggest blowout was with co-host Rosie O'Donnell when the two sparred over statements O'Donnell made about the death toll of the Iraq War. The result was O'Donnell's early departure from the show, as well as an irreparable rift between the ladies that seemed to only widen over time.
But O'Donnell wasn't the only star to take umbrage with Hasselbeck's at-times unfiltered approach. In fact, at one point, the right-wing darling who eventually jumped ship for Fox News had a sizable chunk of the Dancing with the Stars cast pitted against her, too. Why?
We get into all of that and more with the celebs who can't stand Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
O'Donnell out
Let's start with a big one: Hasselbeck v. O'Donnell. These two created one of the most tense daytime TV segments ever when their politically opposite ideologues pummeled one another in a split-screen fight for the ages. Though a lot was said — they even accused each other of being "cowards" — the center of the argument was Rosie O'Donnell's allegation that Elisabeth Hasselbeck refused to defend her against critics who claimed O'Donnell didn't support the troops during the Iraq war.
According to People, the blowout, which occurred on May 23, 2007, just days before O'Donnell's scheduled departure from the show, ended up prematurely pushing her out the door. Days later, in a Q&A with fans, O'Donnell said, "I never tried harder to be friends with someone than I did with [Hasselbeck], but I don't think we ever got there."
Fast-forward seven years and the bad blood remained: O'Donnell replied "excellent comment" to a Twitter user calling Hasselbeck an "insecure TWIT." A year after that, O'Donnell still had Hasselbeck on the brain when she tweeted "some r slow to wake" in response to Hasselbeck's controversial suggestion that Black Lives Matter should be labeled a hate group.
As of this writing, it's unclear exactly where these two stand, but something tells us they're not splitting tubs of popcorn during a Tom Cruise movie marathon.
Andrews to Hasselbeck: 'Who dis?'
Elisabeth Hasselbeck chose an odd target when she criticized then-Dancing with the Stars contestant Erin Andrews. Calling the sportscaster out for her provocative show outfits, Hasselbeck strayed from her typical family values posturing when she made a crack about how the stalker who spied on Andrews in a hotel room in 2008 must have been delighted by the risque attire.
Andrews wasn't amused. In spite of Hasselbeck's tearful next-day apology, Andrews told People, "As a mother and a woman, I'm disappointed she went there." She offered similar scorn to Us Weekly, adding, "It was a mockery of something I've lived through this last year. ... I felt like it was a slap in the face for victims of stalkers and victims of sexual predators."
As if that didn't say it all, in a separate Us Weekly interview, Andrews outright refuted Hasselbeck's claim that the two made peace in a phone call Hasselbeck claimed her 5-year-old daughter urged her to make. "I didn't speak with her, no. I never talked to her," Andrews told the tab, adding, "I'm moving on. I'm tired of talking about it. It's a new week."
While Andrews may have spoken her final word on the matter, her DWTS pals had plenty more to say.
You don't mess with DWTS
On the heels of Erin Andrews' sharp rebukes of Elisabeth Hasselbeck's commentary and apology regarding her "risque" show attire, several other stars from the DWTS universe started slinging barbs.
Us Weekly reported that Andrew's pro partner on the show, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, said, "I'm the one designing [Andrews'] dresses for the show, so I'll just assume that [Hasselbeck] is jealous... and stupid..." Fellow dancer Louis Van Amstel took a less personal approach with his tweet: "Why did u have to throw @erinandrewsespn under the bus this morning? Shame on [you] ... Leave her alone. Aren't u all working for the same network ABC/ESPN???? U should have each other's back, not trashtalk Erin."
Celebrity competitor Evan Lysacek even tangoed into the fray when he said, "So disappointed that anyone would attack [her] after all she's been through." Granted — and this is pure speculation here — this could have been DWTS camaraderie or just retaliation over Hasselbeck's rejecting her own chance to star on the show.
Either way, nobody wanted to watch Hasselbeck do the foxtrot in mom jeans anyway, right?
Kathy Griffin couldn't be more clear about it
Though comedian Kathy Griffin laughs off her feuding with Elisabeth Hasselbeck as fodder for her stand-up act, she has, by far, issued some of the ugliest insults toward the former daytime talk host.
The start of their animosity was likely Griffin's 2010 guest spot on The View, during which Hasselbeck was either annoyed, tired, bored, or all of the above — she spent Griffin's entire segment mostly silent, according to TV Tonight. By the end, however, Hasselbeck took a swipe at Griffin, saying she'd made "untrue" and "not funny" statements about The View co-hosts. Hasselbeck also rolled her eyes at Griffin and seemed dismissive when she said, "I debated in my head whether feeding your curious fire there, so, it's cool. We're cool." Griffin agreed, "I'm cool if you're cool. I think it's all for a joke."
Cut to two years later, and things were definitely not cool anymore. On her own eponymous talk show, Griffin took Hasselbeck to task over Hasselbeck's grilling of President Obama on The View. Griffin also laughed at Obama politely schooling Hasselbeck on a seemingly uninformed opinion, but then she dropped the hammer: "I'll say she's a "c**t," Griffin said.
There are more examples of Griffin talking smack on Hasselbeck, but that pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?
Looks like Manilow and Hasselbeck won't be making it
In what has to be the the most clever shade thrown at Elisabeth Hasselbeck by anyone on this list, legendary musician Barry Manilow allegedly only agreed to appear on The View if Hasselbeck wouldn't be there. According to a statement he issued on his website (via Reuters), the "Mandy" singer said the show "was not willing to accommodate this simple request so I bowed out."
Prior to that statement, Manilow told TMZ, "I strongly disagree with [Hasselbeck's] views. I think she's dangerous and offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her," which was interesting, because according to show producers, he'd already done exactly that in the past. Twice. Those same producers even alleged that it was The View who cancelled Manilow's appearance; not the other way around.
Another show source, who spoke with E! News, suggested Manilow backed out of the gig "out of loyalty" to longtime friend Rosie O'Donnell. Regardless of how it went down or why, Manilow made one thing perfectly clear out of the whole debacle: He can't stand Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Did Behar burn that bridge?
Though the two bickered often on The View, co-hosts Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar saved their serious feuding for after Hasselbeck's 2013 departure. Perhaps ironically, their beef was over Hasselbeck's decision to dig up her ancient feud with Rosie O'Donnell.
According to Us Weekly, Hasselbeck unearthed the bygone beef in 2014 when she called into Fox & Friends (her hosting gig at the time) to once again accuse O'Donnell of having "spit in the face of our military, spit in the face of her own network, and really in the face of a person who stood by her and had civilized debates for the time that she was there."
Behar wasn't having it. In an interview with Don Lemon on CNN, she called Hasselbeck's comments "below the belt" and "nasty." She also defended O'Donnell. "I mean, say what you want about Rosie O'Donnell, she's a very generous person ... Her son is at The Citadel [A prestigious South Carolina military school] — what more does Elisabeth want?"
Granted, Behar and Hasselbeck have also come across chummy in the past, but that was before Behar went full Team Rosie. Any chance their friendship can survive her choosing the opposite side in that grudge match? Not likely.
Where does Bill Maher really stand?
It should come as no surprise that liberal hero Bill Maher doesn't see eye-to-eye with conservative darling Elisabeth Hasselbeck on ... well, not much of anything. Their mutual mistrust was on full display during his appearance on The View, which Hasselbeck spent chastising him for a joke he told on his own show. Hasselbeck happened to be the punchline, which she described as "not funny," while claiming she was "speaking on behalf of women."
You'd think Maher would have felt ambushed, but it was quite the opposite. "It was one of the few times when I had the sympathy of the whole world," he told Men's Health. "Usually I'm a polarizing figure. But on that day, even the conservatives admitted she looked bad. It was wonderful. ... All I had to do was shut up and let her dig her own grave. She had her facts wrong, she had her premise wrong, she had everything wrong."
While that sure seems like someone partaking in schadenfreude over the downfall of an adversary, Maher later confessed to David Letterman that he and Hasselbeck "have this relationship on TV where we play like we hate each other." Though it's tough to think of these two as pals, Maher has also shown a fondness for Ann Coulter, who is a female pundit even further to the right. Maybe it's one of those "keep your enemies closer" situations.