In just four days a Change.org petition addressed to Barbara Walters calling for the termination of Raven-Symoné’s position on “The View” has garnered nearly 125,000 signatures. Many supporters have been hopeful that someone would finally dismantle the former child actress’s public platform due to her controversial comments that have been deemed racist, insensitive and stupid. But the program’s network has made a statement on the matter that may disappoint her critics.
On Saturday afternoon, an ABC spokesperson told E! News that Raven is in good standing on the show:
“We love Raven,” the network’s spokesperson said. “She is confident, genuine and opinionated, all qualities that make her a great addition to the panel.”
The petition to get Raven fired was devised following an “After The View” segment in which the panel was discussing the recent video featuring a South Carolina officer violently handling a Black female student in a Spring Valley High School classroom after she refused to put her phone away. The former “That’s So Raven” star said that there were “two wrongs” in the situation and that the victim should not have been using her phone.
Che Scott-Heron, who wrote that she is the daughter of the famous jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron, said that even as a former fan of Raven’s, she was compelled to write the petition because “Raven Symone has been spouting her ignorant and self hating spiel” on the show for long enough, and that African Americans “need strong black role models in prominent positions on television an Raven Symone cannot provide that.”
She additionally wrote a message addressing those who think the petition will not get Raven removed from the show and others who think this is not a worthy cause:
