What a difference pissing off the vice president with a couple of positive COVID tests can make! On the morning of Friday, September 24th, chaos erupted on the set of The View when co-hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin received positive COVID test results—live, on air—and were immediately ejected from the studio. It didn’t help that this all happened just ahead of welcoming Vice President Kamala Harris, who was waiting backstage, to the show. And rumors soon began swirling that the VP’s team was none too happy with the ladies of The View for putting Harris in harm’s way. Ultimately, the blame for the gaffe had to be put on someone, and Daily Beast is reporting that that someone is Wendy Livingston, the show’s health and safety manager.
According to the site: “Prior to the televised meltdown, which featured hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin being abruptly yanked off-air minutes before a live interview with the vice president, Livingston oversaw The View’s regular testing of all personnel as well as its adherence to coronavirus protocols. But the registered nurse has since stopped performing her medical duties with the show, two people with knowledge of the matter said, though she remains a network employee.”
An ABC spokesperson was quick to weigh in and assure the Daily Beast that Livingston was not being used as a scapegoat, assuring the site that: “Wendy has not been fired. She remains a part of the health & safety team supporting testing and vaccine verification.”
Just, maybe, far from the set of The View. Where, back in May, the ladies actually paid tribute to Livingston—whom they called a “health care hero” and their “own Florence Nightingale.”
History was admittedly never my best subject, but I don’t remember the world thanking Florence Nightingale for her service by throwing her under a bus.
(Via Daily Beast)