Nicolle Wallace’s view of her rumored firing from The View appeared to be that it wasn’t to be taken all that seriously. Nicole didn’t appear bothered about it when she hosted the show on July 17, and she was happy to “make light” of the report that ABC had removed her from her co-host job. Wallace’s view is that it was just part of recent developments that have created “a lot of news about the show… and about me, lately,” and acknowledged that the situation was “hard.” That’s as far as Nicolle was willing to go in giving any credence to the firing rumors.
According to an earlier report in Variety , ABC management decided that Wallace was “not offering enough dissent about political issues and continually voicing her lack of knowledge about celebrities.” Wallace had originally been hired to represent more conservative views and was previously the communications chief for George W. Bush.
Fans of the show were divided in their initial response to the rumor, however, many expressed disappointment over the loss of Wallace.
Twitter user Erica Williams wrote that though she herself isn’t a conservative, she thinks it’s a big mistake to fire Nicolle Wallace, while Eileen Centrone said she was furious and heartbroken.
@TheView Nicole Wallace fired? Im not conservative or Republican but I think she’s smart & really like her. Big mistake imo. #TheView #fail
— Erica (@ericaewilliams) July 16, 2015
# NicoleWallace I am furious you were fired! Do they want The View off the air? You & Whoopi are the reasons I kept watching. Heart broken?
— Eileen Centrone (@uponthisrock627) July 16, 2015
Rocky disagreed with that position, tweeting that Nicolle is insipid and her answers are convoluted.
@MichaelSteele is like Nicole Wallace, the insipid co-host, fired now, of #theview . His answers are convoluted, and his conservatism weak.
— Rock (@RockyII) July 16, 2015
Nicolle was absent from The View on Wednesday, July 15 but back and in fine fettle for the Thursday show. She held co-host Whoopi Goldberg’s hand for pretend comfort as she put on a show of being upset over the comments about her celebrity knowledge. There may have been crocodile tears in Nicole’s eyes when she voiced the worst of the accusations.
“They called me Kardashian illiterate,” Wallace told The View audience, and took the opportunity to prove that she does keep up with the Kardashians .
Nicolle “proceeded to rattle off Wikipedia-like knowledge” of the Kardashians, impressing the audience, if not her bosses.
“I just want everyone to know that even I have a line that can’t be crossed. Don’t ever dis my Kardashian knowledge.”
According to Variety , Wallace was offered a “recurring contributor role” on the show, and so far neither the View’s producers nor Wallace herself have confirmed whether or not that story is true.
Whoopi Goldberg seemed to agree with Nicolle’s reading of the firing rumors.
“I have to tell you, if that was a way to get off this bad boy, I’d been gone ages ago,” she said.
[Image via Theo Wargo / Getty Images]