Kelly Ripa may have ended her Bachelor Nation feud Thursday morning — or at least reached a ceasefire — but no one told her network mate Ellen Pompeo!
It all started on Tuesday when Kelly had a bit of a rough reaction to finding out new Bachelorette Hannah Brown would be a guest on Live with Kelly and Ryan.
Related: Get Your Drama-Filled Recap Of Hannah’s Bachelorette Premiere HERE!
While cohost Ryan Seacrest just wanted to recap the Season 15 premiere, Kelly launched into her criticisms of the Bachelor franchise, calling it “creepy” and “gross”:
“You guys, you know how I feel about the show, it disgusts me. I can’t stand the idea of 25 exceptional women fighting over one ordinary fella, in my opinion. You know how I feel, ladies, we are too special to be arguing over a guy.”
And she called The Bachelorette “just as creepy” as the male version.
Bachelor Nation host Chris Harrison tossed Kelly to the fans, tweeting:
“Look out #BachelorNation @KellyRipa is coming after you and your ‘disgusting’ Monday night habit.”
But it was the response from Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss, that ground Meredith Gray’s gears.
He tweeted to Kelly, whose show also airs on ABC:
“Easy, @KellyRipa … #TheBachelor franchise pays your salary!”
Kelly never responded to any of this.
But Ellen Pompeo came out of Twitter hiatus Thursday morning just to clap back at the producer. As she told a fan:
“Took a break but had to jump back in the ring for my girl.”
Her first swing?
“Okay @fleissmeister… that’s some handle bro! 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. Don’t get me started on your show cuz I’m a savage…. #bachelorsoooowhite.”
That last hashtag may give you some idea of Ellen’s issues with the reality franchise.
Though, as a follower tweeted to the Gray’s Anatomy star:
“Is The Bachelor the representation we want tho?”
Ellen replied:
“NOT AT ALL!!! You’re so right…. but it’s still true so I had to call it out”
The racial representation criticisms notwithstanding, is Ellen right?
Is Fleiss’ attack less based on actual network numbers and more based on viewing female stars as inferior??As for Ripa, she still hasn’t responded to the tweet. (In fact she hasn’t tweeted since 2018!)
Instead she spoke directly to the Bachelorette herself, to whom she clarified her position:
“I am very against women fighting over a guy. I don’t believe in it. I think it’s, you know, weird and sets us back.”
Hannah clearly still has her question answering skills from her pageant days.
She eloquently replied:
“Being a part of the show, it’s not women fighting against each other. Really, some of my best friends came from the show and were really supportive. When you have a group of 30 people together, there’s going to be people who don’t like each other. That’s simple facts. But, ultimately, it was one of the most empowering things that I ever have done because I had to push myself and grow as an individual. And I did. And I think that’s why I decided that I wanted to be the Bachelorette and wanted that so bad for myself.”
Do YOU find The Bachelor problematic? What about Mike Fleiss’ response to Kelly??
Let us know where you stand in the comments (below)!
[Image via Nikki Nelson/Sheri Determan/Patricia Schlein/WENN.]
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