Sherri Shepherd Stays A View Co-Host

After much speculation about the fate of ABC's The View's newest panelist Sherri Shepherd, ABC has taken a step forward to squash the thoughts of those who are saying that she's the next one to be out. They have already unveiled the daytime show's latest promo picture to promote the upcoming fall season.

Quite a few of the messy tabloids and blogs around the world have been saying for weeks that Barbara Walters was planning to fire the newest of 'The View's' co-hosts Shepherd. But the release of the pic definitely gives no indication of that. The image includes Walters, Shepherd, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Elizabeth Hasselbeck in their first group photo shoot. Last season's images were digitally superimposed to make it look as though they were all together.

The 'National Enquirer' was the originator of the erroneous report that claimed that the HBIC Walters was offended by Shepherd's interview with the African-American Christian women's lifestyle magazine 'Precious Times.' In the magazine, Shepherd shared her perspective on once being Jehovah's Witness, coming to terms with her prior promiscuity and having to defend Christianity on live television. During the interview with 'Precious Times' publisher Marilyn J. White, Shepherd joked: "Oh sometimes I say, 'Lord, Juanita Bynum or Joyce Myers would be so good at this table. They could lay hands on Barbara Walters and get her saved.'" That comment and the her disclosure of multiple abortions created a whirlwind of media coverage on everything from 'Access Hollywood' to Fox News Channel and every blog and gossip column you can imagine. The 41-year-old former 'Less Than Perfect' star, who recently hosted the Daytime Emmy Awards with 'All My Children's' Cameron Mathison, has become an easy target for online blogs and tabloid fodder because of her honesty on 'The View.' From the very beginning of her tenure on the show in September of 2007, the almost-divorced mother of one came under scrutiny after a debate about Christianity with Walters and Goldberg was taken completely out of context and generated an onslaught of Jessica Simpson-like comparisons for Shepherd. "I was so nervous and all I heard was how many triglycerides does it take to make Pluto to when the Robitussin comes. And I was like, 'I don't know.' And you have one of those senior, brain poopy moments. But Elisabeth looked at me and said, 'Sherri, you know the earth is round.' And I was like, 'I know the earth is round,' she explained then. Regardless, ratings for 'The View' are higher than ever because of Shepherd and Goldberg and ABC executives anticipate the show will only get stronger and more exciting as the upcoming presidential election gets closer this fall.