Why Rosie O’Donnell Wasn’t Part of The View’s Barbara Walters Tribute

usmagazine.com:

Rosie O’Donnell did not take part in The View‘s tribute to the late Barbara Walters on Tuesday, January 3, but she was invited to appear.An ABC rep and a spokesperson for the League of Our Own actress both confirmed that O’Donnell, 60, was invited to take part in the special episode, TVLine reports.

However, the former cohost had prior commitments. “She is on a plane and couldn’t change her schedule,” her representative explained.Walters, who created The View and was on the roundtable until 2014, died on Friday, December 30.

She was 93.“Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones,” Cindi Berger, the TV presenter’s publicist, told Us Weekly in a statement at the time. “She lived her life with no regrets.

She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists but for all women.”Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulos, Lisa Ling, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd joined current hosts Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sunni Hostin to reflect on the legendary journalist’s legacy.“She started The View when she was 68 years old — very few people start a new career at that age,” Behar, 80, said of Walters at the top of Tuesday’s episode. “And also, she had no mentors or role models because she was the original role model for everybody else.”O’Donnell, for her part, shared a video reacting to Walters’ death on Friday.“Very sad to hear about Barbara Walters’ passing.