The network defends the former child star, saying she is a great addition to the panel of talking and opinionated women.
- Nov 1, 2015
AceShowbiz - Raven-Symone is not everbody's favorite to co-host "The View". ABC has taken a stand for the former child actress despite hundred of thousands signing petition to remove her from the co-hosting duty.
"We love Raven," a spokesperson for ABC said in a statement on Saturday, October 31. "She is confident, genuine and opinionated, all qualities that make her a great addition to the panel." It looks like she will remain co-hosting alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Candace Cameron Bure, Michelle Collins and Paula Faris.
The petition to boycott her was posted on Change.org by Che Scott-Heron from the U.K. and addressed to Barbara Walters. "Raven Symone has been spouting her ignorant and self hating spiel on the view for Long enough, from stating that she wouldn't hire somebody for having a ghetto name, to openly complaining about reverse racism, the final straw was her comment about the recent viral video of the school police officer assaulting the student, where Raven Symone said 'get off your phone in school then'," the petition begins.
It continues, "African Americans and black people around the diaspora need a voice representative of their views and not a voice representative of what white people want us to say," the petition read. "We need strong black role models in prominent positions on television an Raven Symone cannot provide that." More than 120,000 people have signed the petition since it was put up on Wednesday.
Symone herself has not responded to the petition but she said previously that not everybody would like what she had to say on the show. "Some people might not agree with me and some people will but we know how to talk to each other in a respectful way so that everybody gets their point across and there's no cutthroat conversation," she told E! Online.
