Karma, karma, karma… What goes around, ALWAYS comes around.  Aside from death and taxes, KARMA is one of the few certainties in life we can all count on.  If you talk shit about people, whether on the playground or around the neighborhood, it's almost inevitably going to come back around one day to smack you in the face.  If you do it in front of millions of television viewers on a daily basis, and continually get second chance after third chance after fourth, eventually, it will cost you.  What Rosie O'Donnell's rampage of unprovoked, inappropriate (to network television), and antagonistic attacks on POWERFUL public figures and entities of all sorts over the past television season has cost her- aside from millions of dollars in salary for what would have been her second season on The View next fall- is that very position itself.  Dismissed by her corporate bosses this week- no matter how the show attempts to spin it- make NO MISTAKE about the fact that Rosie O'Donnell's OWN MOUTH did her in, an irony considered she was paid to run it.  Sadly, rather than keeping the gossip commentary tasteful, in the vein of co-hosts like Barbara Walters and former host Star Jones, Rosie O'Donnell traded almost exclusively in the TASTELESS, and in the end, it left a bad aftertaste in everyone's mouth who would have otherwise come to her defense.  
 
Let's do a TOP 10 (+1, her transgressions go to 11) run-down of her unprovoked highlights in the past 7 months on The View:

1.) Suggesting that our own government was responsible for the World Trade Center collapse by stating that "buildings do not come down without explosives being involved;"

2.) Her unprovoked attacks Donald Trump in what became a landslide of negative publicity for 'The View' (EVERYONE is familiar with this one);

3.) Calling Barbara Walters a 'FUCKING LIAR' for coming to Trump's defense in the initial stages of their now world-famous spat, in a move that caused a spin-off controversy for Walters, who historically has been network television's great diplomat, and which threatened her financial position re the View's ratings, which O'Donnell's unpredictable rants have repeatedly threatened;

4) Defended Alex Baldwin for calling his daughter a "little pig" among other threats;

5) Suggesting that the British Sailors kidnapped by Iran's government had been planted by the British government on purpose to provoke World War III- IDIOT;

6.) Attacking the MUCH MORE POPULAR (I have the ratings to back this up if anyone needs) Kelly Ripa of 'Regis and Kelly' for reacting to GAY Aiken putting his hand over her mouth by accusing Ripa of being 'homophobic.'  Another completely unsubstantiated attack by O'Donnell that pissed off A LOT of soccer moms;

7.) Attacking 'Radical Christians' by "is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America;"

8.) Viciously attacking Anna Nicole Smith's character shortly after her death; 

9.) Her accusation that President Bush was happy people died during Hurricane Katrina last week by observing that "it was interesting to note that President Bush was flying to Virginia Tech today and took him a week to get to...Katrina to visit the victims…You can't pretend that it's the same."  And her accusation a week earlier that President Bush in terms of the Alberto Gonzales U.S. Attorney firing scandal was using "mob tactics. That's Tony Soprano. We're going to lean on people. That's what the president's doing. That's scary;" 

10.) Offending Chinese people by cruelly joking that "the fact is that it's news all over the world. That you know, you can imagine in China it's like: 'Ching chong. Danny DeVito, ching chong, chong, chong, chong. Drunk. The View. Ching chong."

11.) Grabbed her crotch and told Trump to 'Eat Me', as well as used extreme profanity ('Fuck') in front of minors, as well as the inner circle of Power Women (including presidential candidate Hilary Clinton and Martha Stewart among others) at the Matrix Awards in New York this week.

In the end, it wasn't a question of how much Donald Trump or America could take, the hoagie that bursted this beast's belly was Barbara Walters' head in her hands one too many a time.  Barbara Walters is America's grandmother of morning talk-show hosts, and you watch your mouth around your elders.  You especially watch what you say about those elders of the handful of media conglomerates who control the airwaves, in this case Rupert Murdoch, who O'Donnell also attacked during the lunch-in.  O'Donnell's latest (and thankfully final) rant- aside from sending Barbara Walters' head embarrassingly into her hands- also prompted her to issue a statement after the awards show stating that "I would like to point out that Rosie's view is not always mine…I would like to say for the record that I am very fond of Rupert Murdoch."  Additionally, during the SAME lunch-in, O'Donnell again attacked Donald Trump by grabbing her crotch and saying 'Eat Me', as well as during her hosting gig, using 'FUCK' in front of minor children at a lunch designed to honor women role-models.  

The Tasmanian Devil of morning talk shows had left a trail of carnage in her path through-out the entire season of the show, with highlights including her criticism of American Idol judges for "I don't think America likes to watch people be ridiculed, made fun of, and called ugly monkeys, or that they're too fat or they're a degenerate... it's an absurd concept that this is what's tolerable now as consumption in America for mass media."  FOX WOULDN'T INCLUDE THOSE OUTTAKES IF VIEWERS HADN'T FOR 7 YEARS HADN'T WANTED IT!!!  In FACT, the percentage of the shows that include 'William Hung'-type auditions has risen each year since Idol's debut in 2000.  Another (and MY FAVORITE personally) was O'Donnell demanding of co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck that "you can't just blather on your opinion."  YEAH- like you don't do it every day to the point where it got you fired!  PIG!  (And Rosie, I'm NOT referring to your disgusting physical appearance, although Donald Trump was absolutely correct (and justified) when he called her 'an Animal' on Greta Van Sustran's show on Fox last night.)  What I am referring to is your insatiable appetite for the spotlight, and your inability to be more creative with your comedy than to attack people- always the lowest stoop on the latter, and consistent with a pig in a troft, metaphorically-speaking.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The VIEW is NOT a political roundtable like 'Real Time with Bill Maher', which is syndicated on a subscription cable network, HBO, on which CUSSING and the freewheeling of controversial PERSONAL opinions is encouraged and welcomed.  The same is NOT TRUE of the View, which depends on corporate sponsorship for its revenues, and is NOT a forum designed to handle O'Donnell's lack of ability to discern between when it is and IS NOT appropriate for her to libelously, antagonistically, and maliciously accuse people who have NEVER in ONE SINGLE INSTANCE engaged her first in an attack on her character or person.  

Rosie O'Donnell's contract was not renewed for the same underlying reason Don Imus was fired for his insensitive, indefensible racist rant against innocents: LOST CORPORATE SPONSORS.  It is the only plausible explanation, given how little money the View brings in for ABC compared to its parent company, publicly-traded WALT DISNEY's other subsidiaries (including such G-rated, family-friendly entities as ESPN and the Walt Disney Theme Parks) which were the potential target of consumer protest of O'Donnell had gotten any more out of hand. Rosie O'Donnell is a television SHOCK JOCK, and if she were more capable, she'd still have her job.  She should look to masters of the art of balancing cutting-edge humor with the day-time, soccer-mom viewing demographic like Ellen Degeneres for direction in her future television endeavors.  That is assuming any network (and more importantly, their corporate sponsors) are willing to take a chance on her.   In my estimation, given the fact that public airwaves hyper-sensitivity is at an ALL-TIME high, it's not likely, unless perhaps on a B-rate network like UPN or a cable network.  O'Donnell's banishment is her own doing, and has been a long-time coming! 
 

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About the author: Jake Brown is owner/operator of Nashville-based Versailles Records and a biographer who has published several books. Click here to more details. 
 

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