After jumping the gun in announcing her imminent departure from The View, Star Jones Reynolds has been booted from the ABC daytime talk show.
"It is becoming uncomfortable for us to pretend that everything is the same at this table," show creator Barbara Walters told the live audience and viewers Wednesday.
"Therefore, regrettably, Star will no longer be on this program."
Star Jones Reynolds has been booted from Barbara Walters' chat-fest The View.
(Steve Mitchell/Associated Press)
Reynolds had also been erased from Wednesday's opening credits and her profile was deleted from the show's website, although some pictures of her remained posted.
The View is now left with just three of its five co-hosts: Walters, comic Joy Behar and former Survivor contestant Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Meredith Vieira left earlier this month to prepare for her new job hosting NBC's Today.
Premature announcement
Reynolds, a former prosecutor and legal commentator, stunned ABC and her co-hosts early on Tuesday's episode by announcing her departure from the daily chat-fest — news that was scheduled to be announced Thursday, Walters said later.
"We gave her time to look for another job and hoped that she would announce it on this program and leave with dignity," Walters told the Associated Press Tuesday afternoon.
"But Star made another choice," the TV veteran said, adding that she felt "betrayed" by the stunt.
Walters was also surprised to find out Reynolds had also given an interview to People magazine, which hits newsstands Friday, saying that she felt as if she had been fired from the show.
Reynolds, who had been on The View since its inception nine years ago, said through a spokesperson Tuesday that she had felt compelled to break the news early because of floating media speculation.
Decision known for months: Walters
On Tuesday afternoon, Walters said that ABC had informed Reynolds several months ago that her contract was not being renewed this fall.
Walters cited research that the show's audiences had become turned off by Reynolds's extreme weight loss over the past two years and her over-the-top, glitzy 2004 wedding, for which she had a website promoting companies that donated items for the wedding party's gift bags.
After ABC announced in April that former talk show host Rosie O'Donnell would replace departing View co-host Vieira this fall, buzz began building over possible on-air skirmishes between O'Donnell and Reynolds.
Over the years, the two have verbally sparred when O'Donnell periodically appeared as a guest on The View.
Walters said O'Donnell's hiring had nothing to do with Reynolds's contract not being renewed, a decision she said ABC initially made last fall.
