After a heated and televised debate with former The View co-host Rosie O’Donnell, Elisabeth Hasselbeck has once again spoken her mind, this time about Paris Hilton’s reassignment from jail to her home early Thursday morning.
“I think we learned when you’re rich and you’re hot… the legal system will let you off the hook,” Hasselbeck said on the popular all-female morning talk show. “And I think it’s disgusting. I really do.”
The 30-year old designer, who first became a television personality when she appeared as one of the contestants on Survivor: Outback, went on to say that “[Hilton’s reassignment] sets such a horrible precedent in terms of law… lawfulness, or unlawfulness… in terms of legal issues and criminal issues, precedent is everything, and now we have one, and it’s hers. Congratulations, Paris.”
Only after spending a few nights in jail, Hilton was granted the reassignment due to a series of still undisclosed “medical issues.” The hotel heiress released a statement later on, thanking the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and staff of the Century Regional Detention Center.
Hilton went on to say that she hopes others will learn from her experience, but her statement did not do much to appease Hasselbeck’s chagrin over the reassignment.
The other women of The View also expressed their opinions regarding the issue. Comedian Joy Behar referred to Hilton as her “new idol,” commenting that the heiress “can get out of more things than David Copperfield.”
Questioning Hilton’s reason for the reassignment, The View co-host Barbara Walters said, “”I wonder how the country feels. What happens when another inmate who feels bad… We don’t know what the medical issues are… We do know that she was okay Sunday night before she went into jail. She went to the (MTV Movie Awards).”
The women also expressed their concern over Hilton’s image as a role model to the youth. Behar described the reassignment as a “disservice to kids,” many of who desire to be just like the hotel heiress.
Hasselbeck added, “(Children are) paused in this world of celebrity and I think it prevents them in a way from becoming who they really could be, if there is that potential there… They almost become the identity that the media feeds into, and I’m just concerned because people are going to look at this and say [Hilton] is somebody’s role model — scary enough — but they’re looking at her…Now what are they gonna say? She got off easy, she got to keep her extensions and she’s out of prison.”
Update (6/8/07 2:30pm): A Los Angeles judge ordered Paris Hilton back to jail to finish her sentence for probation violation.
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: www.realitytvworld.com
(Photo Courtesy of freerepublic.com)
Staff Columnist, BuddyTV
