Hot Topics:

• Grieving Publicly: In case you missed it, Rosie O shared with the audience that she will be going to her best friend Jeanne’s husband’s funeral on Saturday where she will be performing the eulogy. As some of you remember, Ro’s best friend Jeanne’s husband died a week ago and this Saturday will be his memorial service. Rosie O said Dan Kopetic was an amazing man. He was a special education teacher, as is Jeanne, and when he got sick all the other teachers donated their vacation and sick days so he could finish out the year. Ro talked about the challenges of grieving in public. When her friend Nora Ephron died, she gave the eulogy and it was a very hard thing to do. Jeanne has helped some because she gave out a special email address for friends and family to send them their favorite memory of Dan. Rosie also reached out to her friend Dick Scanlan for some help in writing the eulogy. Whoopi, who just recently went through something similar when she lost her dear friend Robin Williams, consoled Ro and just told her the grief will hit you when it hits you and she cannot control when that’s going to happen. When Billy Crystal appeared as a guest on The View recently, Whoopi said she would normally never let people see her so upset or grieve in such a public way. Nicolle agreed. She said oftentimes grieving is out of our control and there is no rule about how long it’s going to take you to move through it or how hard it’s going to be. Rosie O told a funny story about Dan when one of his children was born. He was quite the prankster so he put guacamole inside a baby’s diaper and took it to the nurse to ask her to check it. When she was examining it he put his finger in the guacamole and tasted it! Apparently, the nurse almost had a heart attack!   We’re thinking of you Jeanne. Thank you for opening your life and your heart and allowing us to know you and your family through Rosie Radio. If you would like to make a donation to the Kopetic Family, Jackie set up a fundraising page.

• Gaga About Tony Bennett: The number one album right now is Cheek to Cheek with Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett.   Whoopi was ecstatic about it. She loved that he broke his own record as the oldest singer to ever have a number one album on the billboard chart. Rosie P talks about Bennett in her book. She said it was difficult for her to bond with her father but she always remembers how much he loved Tony Bennett. She knows every word to every Tony Bennett song. When she met him she said she made a fool of herself, crying and telling him how much she loves him. She advised everyone watching to go out and get the album!

• Pot for A Purpose: A Minnesota mother is facing jail-time for giving her sick child medical marijuana. She traveled to Colorado to purchase medical marijuana for her son and she told a friend about how successful the drug worked for him. The friend called the cops. Whoopi was beside herself. She uses medical marijuana to treat her glaucoma. She was extremely upset, almost in tears, at the thought of a mother being prosecuted for trying to help her child. Nicolle said the people are now ahead of the laws and we have to reform the laws to catch up. She said there’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her child. Rosie O talked about the Stanley Brothers from Colorado and how they’ve developed medical marijuana that treats sick patients without including the drug aspect that causes the hallucinations. Rosie and Whoopi really want to meet the brothers from Colorado! Rosie P wants this prohibition to end soon and said people should think before they act. Nicolle said it might take a family with political influence with a need for medical marijuana to truly make a change in the laws, unfortunately.

• Special Needs Child Retrained: There’s an investigation at a Bronx elementary school after a cell phone video was released to the public showing a 5-year-old special needs student being restrained with Velcro straps to a chair. The school said the student was out of control and bit someone but Rosie P thought that was no excuse to do that to a child. Rosie P said they can call it whatever they want but “let’s face it, they handcuffed him.” She said if you don’t know how to handle special ed kids, don’t be around them. Rosie P was angry and concerned for the mother of the child. Whoopi hopes the teachers know what they’re doing. Nicolle said this was a terrible thing to witness and wondered about the other incidents occurring that we don’t know about. Whoopi said this is why it’s important that when cuts are made to school budgets, we all speak out.

• Celebrities Right to Privacy: Actress Zoe Saldana, who is starring in the film Guardians of the Galaxy, has come out in a recent interview saying she still has a right to her personal privacy despite her fame. Nicolle found the article interesting because the star embraces fame when she wants or needs it for her career but doesn’t want it when it’s not important in her life. Rosie P tried to explain how it feels to be famous to Nicolle. She asked Nicolle to imagine she’s a postman, dealing with the public all day. Then when you go home, the public all comes over and asks what you’re doing in your free time. She said there’s a time for work and there’s a time when work stops. Rosie O said 20 years ago everyone wanted an autograph but today everyone has a camera and wants a picture with you! She said fame is very different today than it was 20 years ago. For Whoopi, it’s the fear of a drone flying over her home that really crosses the line. She said people better not mess with her when she’s at home and she fears that’s where we’re headed.

Guests:

Wendy Williams: The View panel sat down with the hilarious Wendy Williams. They discussed her talk show which is in its 6^th season and the time she had to literally “eat crow” on air for losing a bet. Wendy bet that the marriage of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian wouldn’t make it 73 days or she would eat crow. When the couple made it to the milestone, she had a chef prepare a crow for her and she had to eat it! They discussed a myriad of celebrity topics which Nicolle knew nothing about. Nicolle is an admitted “political nerd” and when Wendy started asking Nicolle if she had heard of any of the people they were discussing Nicolle had no clue. Nicolle started to panic and said Wendy was freaking her out so much she was starting to sweat through her shirt! Wendy will be performing at the Venetian in Las Vegas October 31^st and November 1^st and has a new Lifetime movie out about the singer Aalyiah who tragically died in a place crash at the age of 22.

BJ Novack: Actor and Children’s Author B.J. Novack joined The View panel to discuss his latest book The Book With No Pictures. B.J. said as a comedian, he loves the sound of laughter and there’s no better feeling than the sound of a child laughing. He said he loves the act of reading a book to a child because the kid is really in charge of the experience. In his book the child gets to give the adult their “lines” and in a way, tell them what to do! He read part of the book to the audience. You can also see B.J. on the next season of HBO’s hit series Newsroom.

Mary Kate Smith: The View panel welcomed Mississippi student-athlete Mary Kate Smith. Mary Kate is the starting kicker for her high school football team as well as homecoming queen! They talked about her experience kicking on the football field and whether or not her beauty is distracting to the other team. Mary Kate has a scholarship to University of Southern Mississippi! Then NY Giants player and former Superbowl champion, Armani Toomer came out to surprise Mary Kate with a gift of an autographed football from NY Giants Kicker Josh Brown. He heard her story and said he had to come and meet anyone who could “wear both high heels and cleats.”

Audience Gift: The members of the studio audience went home with the book The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novack!

Quote-ables:

Rosie O: “It’s really a very different experience of fame now than it was 20 years ago.”

Nicolle:  “Our human instinct is to want to control every process, and grief is one of those ones that is totally out of our control.”

Nicolle: “I’m a political nerd.”

Rosie P. :  “I don’t like to talk about my age although everyone knows.”

Whoopi:  “We the people have the power.”

And that’s what you missed!