Elisabeth Hasselbeck fires back telling Rosie O’Donnell to stop twisting the truth about their explosive on-air clash.NH
Elisabeth Hasselbeck is emotionally firing back at Rosie O’Donnell, who recently referenced their fight on “The View” nearly two decades ago.
In a series of now-deleted Instagram Stories, Hasselbeck told the comedian to “stop the madness” after O’Donnell made new comments about their infamous fight that she claims was “a setup” by producers of the show, according to Entertainment Weekly (EW).
O’Donnell appeared on the Australian radio show “Ricki-Lee, Tim & Joel” and said she “bent over backwards” for Hasselbeck before her coworker questioned her patriotism on air.
She believed the on-air fight, which was shown on split screen, was planned.
“That was prepared so the whole thing, I think, was a setup,” O’Donnell said. “Our producer is not an on-the-fly kind of guy. He wasn’t, like, Mr. let’s-go-to-a-split-screen.”
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 06: Rosie O’Donnell arrives in Australia ahead of her “Common Knowledge” show at the Sydney Opera House on October 06, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for Tinderbox Productions)
NASHVILLE, TN – MAY 27: TV host Elisabeth Hasselbeck takes photos with fans at the 6th Annual KLOVE Fan Awards at The Grand Ole Opry on May 27, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Davis/Getty Images for KLOVE)
A tearful Hasselbeck told O’Donnell to “stop the lying.”
“And even maybe if you don’t stop, I still forgive you,” she said, adding, “And it can just be so much more free, Rosie, if you can just stop. Stop the madness, stop the lying and just be free.”
O’Donnell, Hasselbeck argue over right-wing attacks
In May 2007, the former “The View” co-hosts got into a heated argument when the “A League of Their Own” actor criticized Hasselbeck for not defending her from conservative backlash over her anti-war beliefs.
During the segment, the two go back and forth, resulting in a split screen.
O’Donnell asked to be let out of her contract early after the incident and left “The View.”
“Like, I bent over backwards for this woman, and here she was comin’ at me on national TV about whether or not I was patriotic,” the comedian told the radio show. “It felt to me like I was on a basketball team of five women and one of them kept tripping me on my way to the hoop.”
Hasselback claimed in her posts that she had tried to call O’Donnell after their fight, the EW reported.
The former “Survivor” competitor believes that O’Donnell speaks about the split-screen moment “in a way that’s personally attacking me and the integrity of our work there and my personal character.”
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