ABC/Lou RoccoRosie Perez is staying put...for now, at least.
Variety reported Wednesday that the recently hired co-host is planning to leave The View by the end of the month. Perez took off the month of January to rehearse for the Broadway play Fish in the Dark, and the show booked guest co-hosts like Mario Cantone, Billy Eichner and Naya Rivera in the star's stead.
However, on Tuesday, Perez told a Twitter user that she plans to return to The View "soon."
So, is Perez really planning her exit strategy?
"Her status with the show has not changed," an ABC rep told E! News Wednesday.
Rosie O'Donnell addressed her colleague's rumored exit on Thursday, saying, "No matter what you read anywhere, Rosie Perez is also coming back after she is done rehearsing her play. Her play, the new Larry David play that she is starring in, opens soon and then she will be back here at her job. Regardless of what you hear on other shows or read in magazines as I did last night at 11:40 and went, 'What the...?'"
The camera cut away from O'Donnell before she finished her sentence with an expletive.
Drama with The View is nothing new, of course.
After Barbara Walters' retirement (and Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd's departures), The View returned for its 18th season in September with Whoopi Goldberg, O'Donnell and Nicolle Wallace. At the last minute, executive producer Bill Wolff hired Perez; even O'Donnell admitted it was a surprise.
Since the introduction of the new cast, The View has been plagued by rumors of backstage feuding. Most recently, in December, it was erroneously reported that O'Donnell wasn't getting along with Goldberg. "There is absolutely no truth to this," O'Donnell's publicist told E! News. "Rosie was thrilled and excited to work with Whoopi and knew Whoopi's role as moderator before she re-joined the show!"