Rosie O'Donnell to Elisabeth Hasselbeck: Crush was not sexual
Rosie O'Donnell, left, responded to Elisabeth Hasselbeck on social media after O'Donnell said in an upcoming book that she had had a crush on Hasselbeck when they worked together on "The View." Credit: Composite: Getty Images for Showtime / Cindy Ord, left, Getty Images for KLOVE / Terry Wyatt
Comedian Rosie O'Donnell has responded to her former "The View" co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who said Tuesday that recently learning of O'Donnell's platonic "crush" on her had shocked and upset her.
The Commack born-and-raised O'Donnell, 57, tweeted Tuesday, "hey eh — my crush on u was not sexual — sorry u got scared," reiterating a point she made in the upcoming book "Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of 'The View.' " In it, O'Donnell revealed "a little bit of a crush" that "was in no way sexualized" but mentor-based.
O'Donnell continued: "surely u recall b4 it all went wrong — i never objectified u — i did find u fantastic — broadway shows — my pool — we were friends once. God love ya kid — i always did."
O'Donnell concluded with the hashtag "#raminSUX," referring to the book's author, Ramin Setoodeh, New York bureau chief of the entertainment-industry trade magazine Variety.
Setoodeh did not immediately comment on his social media about on O'Donnell's tweets Tuesday.
Hasselbeck had said that she tried to phone O'Donnell before speaking publicly, but that she did not have the comic's current number. "She knows how to get my number," O'Donnell said in an answer to a commenter. Another commenter who described herself as "a Christian woman" said O'Donnell had tried to take Hasselbeck "under your wing professionally the way Women in business do all the time. #Hasselbeck tried to use your being gay to mean predatory & that is wrong." O'Donnell tweeted back, "exactly."
Hasselbeck, 41, on Tuesday said on "Fox & Friends," which she hosted from 2013 to 2015 following her "View" stint, that had O'Donnell's comments been made by a man they would have been considered "an objectification of women in the workplace. And so that is disturbing and it's wrong." A former college softball star, Hasselbeck also decried O'Donnell characterizing highly athletic women as "at least a little bit gay," calling it "an unfair stereotype."
On Instagram Tuesday, Hasselbeck, who is promoting a new book, posted a photo of herself with the "Fox & Friends" hosts and wrote, "Thankful. So thankful for God’s grace and peace and joy through this day! Thank you for your prayers. I felt God holding me!"
