KELLY VS THE BACHELOR: IT’S ALL-OUT WAR!
Raging Ripa insists TV contest puts down gals but show's bosss says it pays her salary
AN EXPLOSIVE feud between Kelly Ripa and The Bachelor franchise is rocking ABC as the feisty Live host sticks to her guns after saying the cash cow reality show is “gross” and “disgusts” her.
The 48-year-old chatterbox is getting support from other female Hollywood heavyweights, including Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo and rival TV talk show host Wendy Williams. But critics are branding her a “diva” who’s shown “bad taste” in belittling Bachelorette
Hannah Brown on-air and made a bad “career move” by slamming a ratings-winning network franchise.
“She may have some support, but a lot of people are griping about her behind the scenes at ABC, saying she went too far and betrayed her own people!” tattles an insider.
“Many feel she was disrespectful to Hannah and belittled her on TV. It wasn’t only bad taste, but it was a bad career move!”
Meanwhile, Kelly’s standing firm, insisting the dating
show is sexist.
“She’s on a mission to destroy, and The Bachelor is first on her list!” spills the insider. “She thinks it sets women back a thousand years and forces them to be submissive and viewed as sex objects.”
A firestorm erupted on a May 14 Live segment after cohost Ryan Seacrest said Bachelorette Brown would be appearing.
Kelly fumed: “Guys, you know how I feel about this show — it disgusts me!” She added she “couldn’t stand the idea of 25 exceptional women fighting over one ordinary fella. You know how I feel, ladies: We are too special to be arguing over a guy.”
Kelly then blasted The Bachelor as “a gross, gross show.”
The Bachelor’s creator, Mike Fleiss, angrily tweeted back: “Easy, @KellyRipa … #TheBachelor franchise pays your salary!”
But Wendy dashed to Kelly’s defense, calling the reality show “degrading.”
Ellen also flamed Fleiss in a seething tweet: “Your show does NOT pay @KellyRipa salary.
“Also we don’t attack successful women on our network, and men certainly cannot take credit for their success.”
Hannah publicly defended the show before going on Live, and when Brown made her guest appearance, Kelly offered to save her from her “captors,” telling the 24-yearold: “I’m not behind this at all.”
But Bachelor star Colton Underwood took a shot at the pintsized talk show host, tweeting, “How mad is Kelly Ripa going to be when The Bachelor wins an Emmy this year?”
Sources say that would probably get Kelly’s goat because she hates the franchise for insulting gals and sees it as a slap in the face to the #MeToo movement.
But others accuse Kelly of being two-faced, as she never personally confronted Fleiss or show host Chris Harrison at past ABC functions.
“But she’ll do it on her show — her turf — and some might call that backstabbing,” snips the source.
Meanwhile, people are taking sides in Kelly’s war.
“Some really love The Bachelor but many others don’t,” notes the snitch. “Kelly is getting a lot of pats on the back. She is saying what a lot of staffers at ABC were thinking but were too afraid to say.”