‘The View’: Barbara Walters denies Elisabeth Hasselbeck exit

This story about “The View” and Elisabeth Hasselbeck is starting to get a little bit interesting. Late last week, rumors were starting to circulate that the conservative panelist on the show was going to be dismissed from the show, with one of the reasons being that focus groups have rated her poorly. In addition, they also claim that her conservative viewpoint is disliked and not appreciated by some of the other women on the show.

However, Walters wasted almost no time on the show Monday in denying these claims, and along with saying a few lovely things about the departing Joy Behar (which you can see in the video below), she went on to explain that there is no reason to believe that Elisabeth is going to be leaving anytime soon unless she makes the decision to do so:

“The truth is, we love Elisabeth…Beyond that, we value and appreciate her point of view. It’s important to us because Elisabeth helps give this show perspective and balance…We have no plans for Elisabeth to leave the show.”

So what is the original source of the departure rumors saying now? According to Us Weekly, Walters is just attempting to save Hasselback some face in saying some of these comments, and she wants to give her the opportunity to leave under her own accord. We are ultimately going to find out which side to believe in the weeks ahead, and should the former “Survivor: The Australian Outback” contestant ever decide to leave, she will probably put enough distance between Walters’ comments and the announcement to make it not appear to be coincidental.

What do you think about the way Walters handled this? If you want to go back and read some more of the original rumors, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: ABC, video via Mediaite