Wendy Williams Defends Kelly Ripa and Agrees That the ‘Bachelor’ Show Is ‘Degrading’

The TV show host addressed the controversy following her friend’s negative comments about the dating reality show “The Bachelorette,” and she stepped out in support of Ripa.

54-year-old Wendy Williams is on Kelly Ripa’s side in the controversy surrounding the latter’s honest opinion about “The Bachelorette” which she shared on the May 14 episode of “Live! with Kelly and Ryan.”

Ripa didn’t shy away from expressing how “disgusted” she was about the dating show, even when “The Bachelorette” is aired by the same network she has worked in for so many years, ABC.

RIPA’S REMARKS

“Guys, you know how I feel about this show. It disgusts me,” the 48-year-old actress and talk show host said.

“I thought that I was disgusted because I couldn’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,” Ripa explained.

“THE BACHELORETTE” CREATOR AND HOST REACT

Ripa’s remarks weren’t well received, neither by the series’ creator Mike Fleiss nor by its host Chris Harrison, who both took to social media to call Ripa out, with Fleiss claiming that “The Bachelorette” “pays her salary.”

WILLIAMS JUMPS IN

Williams wasn’t having any of this, and she used her talk show as a platform to take sides with Ripa on this, as she not only has the same opinion on “The Bachelorette” but also has a solid argument against Fleiss.

“I’m not a fan of “The Bachelorette” precisely for that reason. It’s like, I’m not a fan of beauty pageants,” Williams said during the “Hot Topics” section of her show.

“It’s just so stupid, women parading themselves around. It depends on who you are, what you wanna do with your life, but for me, it’s degrading,” she continued.

Williams also had something to say about Fleiss’s claim that the success of his show allowing the network to pay for Ripa’s salary.

“Well, if memory serves me, Kelly Ripa has been on ABC – Kelly and Regis, and Regis, and Ryan – longer than “The Bachelor” has been on.

“She jumped into an already successful show, she continued to keep it an already successful show, so, if anybody’s paying anybody’s salary… just saying,” Williams noted.

ELLEN POMPEO ALSO DEFENDS RIPA

Williams is not the only TV personality that has come in Ripa’s defense following her comments on “The Bachelor.” 49-year-old “Gray’s Anatomy” alum Ellen Pompeo, who also works for ABC, took to Twitter to respond to Fleiss.

“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,” she wrote on May 26.