Last week a petition was launched on Change.org to have Raven-Symoné removed from The View.
“African Americans and black people around the Diaspora need a voice representative of their views and not a voice representative of what white people want us to say,” the petition read. “We need strong black role models in prominent positions on television and Raven-Symoné cannot provide that.”
When I wrote about the post last week, the petition had about 85,000 signatures; as of Monday it was inching close to 130,000 signatures of its 150,000 goal.
But it looks as though ABC has been informed about the petition and is standing by its host.
“We love Raven,” a representative for ABC told E! News. “She is confident, genuine and opinionated, all qualities that make her a great addition to the panel.”
Did people expect anything different from the network?
Raven-Symoné has gotten The View more attention over the last couple of months than any other host, so of course it’s in her corner. It’s all about ratings, and even if you’re hate-watching a television show, those ratings still count. Even social media mentions count toward ratings nowadays.
As long as people are watching and tweeting, Raven-Symoné isn’t going anywhere. Unless ABC finally decides to cancel a show that should have been canceled seasons ago.