Rosie O'Donnell's latest bout of public bickering with View overlord den mother Barbara Walters may not have been launched to gain publicity for the former Queen of Nice's upcoming variety special, but it's certainly not hurting her column inches.
Hours after O'Donnell's video blog rebuttal of Walter's daytime remarks on their long-simmering feud, the comedian was at it again, revisiting the topic on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. (Watch the entire episode here)
"I have a little post-traumatic stress disorder when I watch it. I get flashbacks like Vietnam vets," she said before moving, ever so fleetingly, into peace-making mode.
"It was a good experience, it wasn't something I regret doing by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn't end well. And people seem to remember that part.
"Truthfully, in spite of the fact that she now loathes me, I still do enjoy her," she said of Walters, going on to state a rather obvious fact. "I'm not sure if I'm going to be a guest on that show again."
Doing his best to fuel the feuding flames, or at least make for a compelling segment, O'Brien then replayed for O'Donnell her former boss' "lady"-invoking comments from earlier in the day.
"Lady? I do not know what Star Jones or Debbie Matenopoulos did," O'Donnell joked. "But that lady is pretty pissed off. I can't imagine what they would have done. She's a little angry…She likes everyone to play nice.
"But I never meant to hurt a journalist of her stature, in all honesty."
The show, on the other hand…
In response to Walters' accusation that certain unnamed former cohosts have recently taken to publicly dumping on the program for their own professional gain, O'Donnell—make that six-time Daytime Emmy-winning O'Donnell—put her yearlong View stint into perspective for the grande dame.
"Listen, I don't want to dump on the show in order to benefit my own career, to use it for publicity…because I didn't have a career before that show," she explained. "So I'm very thankful to The View for the help it's given me in my life. I'm a big fan of the program and the producers."
And just because sarcasm doesn't translate very well to the printed page, we give you O'Brien's response: "That's the scariest smile I've ever seen since Jack Nicholson in The Shining."