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Gay bloggers say ‘Live with Regis and Kelly’ co-host Kelly Ripa successfully stared down speculation from Rosie O’Donnell that Ripa made homophobic remarks after an altercation with Clay Aiken. (Photo by Kristie Bull/AP)
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HOME > VIEWPOINT > ACTION! ALERT
By: ZACK HUDSON
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Daytime talk-show queens Rosie O’Donnell and Kelly Ripa are publicly cooling their heels after igniting a media brouhaha when “The View” panelist O’Donnell accused “Live with Regis and Kelly” co-host Ripa of spouting homophobic remarks following a televised incident with pop singer Clay Aiken.
The scenes played out before early morning television audiences on Friday, Nov. 17. Aiken, subbing for “Live” co-host Regis Philbin, placed his hand over Ripa’s mouth while the two were interviewing “Dancing with the Stars” champs Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke.
“Oh, I’m in trouble now,” Aiken said, cued on by a noticeably perturbed Ripa, who then seemed to shrug the incident off with her comments.
‘’No, I just don’t — I don’t know where that hand’s been, honey,’’ she said, to Aiken and a laughing audience.
Some two-hours later during a live broadcast and taping of “The View,” O’Donnell, who is a lesbian, claimed offense at the remarks.
“If that was a straight man, if that was a cute man, if that was a guy that she didn’t question his sexuality, she would have said a different thing,’’ O’Donnell said, prompting Ripa to phone into the program to defend herself.
THE DAYTIME DUEL sparked a barrage of media coverage, and lit up the blogosphere with pointed debate over whether Ripa’s comment actually was homophobic, or whether O’Donnell overreacted — and whether she outed Aiken, who has denied rumors that he is gay.
Several prominent gay bloggers seem to lean toward the Ripa camp.
“I think it’s impossible to say for sure if Kelly’s remarks were homophobic,” said Frank Griggs, editor of OMG Blog.
“My feeling is that they were not homophobic remarks, actually. Also, it’s such a common thing to say, ‘you don’t know where that hand’s been.’ I think that Rosie was overreacting,” he said.
Blogger Jeremy Hooper, who is gay and writes Good As You, found little fault with Ripa’s remarks. He also praised Ripa for the quick and vigorous way she defended her remarks against the O’Donnell tirade.
“I see how Kelly’s action could have been interpreted as homophobic at face value, but I felt her response was from the heart. If you’re a celebrity, you don’t call directly into a show yourself and confront accusations unless you are one hundred percent confident in your innocence. If Ripa had meant it in even a slightly anti-gay way, she likely would have reacted in a more calculated, publicist-crafted way,” he said.
Both Hooper and Griggs agreed that Aiken’s silence on the controversy speaks volumes.
“I had already just taken it so much for granted that Clay is gay, that it didn’t even occur to me that she had just potentially outed him until I started reading some of the comments on my blog,” Griggs said.
‘LIVE WITH REGIS and Kelly” is syndicated to television stations throughout the world by Buena Vista Television, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company and ABC Networks. “The View” is produced by ABC Daytime, and airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on ABC stations in most markets. Media relations staff from Buena Vista and ABC Daytime did not respond to interview requests by press time.
In 2002, Ripa served as a presenter at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s Media Awards in New York. GLAAD honored O’Donnell in 2003. The organization, which monitors portrayals of gay men and lesbians in the mass media, had no comment on the controversy between O’Donnell and Ripa.
Barbara Walters, executive producer of “The View” and a panelist on the show, told the Associated Press that any feud between Ripa and O’Donnell is over.
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