Don’t mess with the women of ABC! Ellen Pompeo clapped back at Mike Fleiss amid his drama with Kelly Ripa over The Bachelor.
“Okay @fleissmeister … that’s some handle bro! Your show does NOT pay @KellyRipa salary,” the Grey’s Anatomy star, 49, tweeted on Thursday, May 16. “Also we don’t attack successful women on our network and men certainly cannot take credit for their success.”
Pompeo added: “Don’t get me started on your show cuz I’m a savage … #bachelorsoooowhite.”
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. Don’t get me started on your show cuz I’m a savage…. #bachelorsoooowhite
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) May 16, 2019
The Live With Kelly and Ryan host, 48, made headlines on Tuesday, May 14, when she called The Bachelor, which has aired on ABC since its 2002 debut, disgusting.
“I can’t stand the idea of 25 exceptional women fighting over one ordinary fella, in my opinion,” Ripa told cohost Ryan Seacrest on their ABC talkshow. “You know how I feel, ladies, we are too special to be arguing over a guy.”
Fleiss, who created the dating series, fired back at Ripa’s remarks, tweeting, “Easy, @KellyRipa … #TheBachelor franchise pays your salary!”
The reality TV producer’s words struck a cord with Pompeo, who has starred on the network’s hit drama Grey’s Anatomy since 2005. She sent another tweet on Thursday after a fan asked the actress for clarification on what happened. “Took a break but had to jump back in the ring for my girl @KellyRipa 😜,” she wrote.
After Bachelor host Chris Harrison and former leads Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Colton Underwood also came to the show’s defense, current Bachelorette Hannah Brown joined Ripa and Seacrest for Thursday’s episode of Live to address the controversy.
“I am very against women fighting over a guy. I don’t believe in it. I think it’s — you know, weird and sets us back. But now, you are in the power position,” the All My Children alum told Brown, who competed for Underwood’s heart on season 23 of The Bachelor earlier this year. “So take me through that. How does that work?”
The former pageant queen then explained that the series is not about “women fighting against each other.”
“Really, some of my best friends came from the show, and were really supportive,” Brown told Ripa. “When you have a group of 30 people together, there’s going to be people who don’t like each other. That’s just simple facts. It was one of the most empowering things that I ever did because I had to grow as an individual. That is why I decided that I wanted to be the Bachelorette. That’s why I wanted that so bad.”
Seacrest, for his part, shifted the conversation back to Brown’s current season of the show, which premiered on Monday, May 13.
