The final episode of “The Wendy Williams Show” aired today, closing out an era of “Hot Topics” and “How You Doin’?!,” without the talk show's iconic host,Wendy Williams.And Wendy’s ex-husband,Kevin Hunter Sr., is pissed about it. Find out what he said inside….
Today, marked an end of an epic era of talk show television. The final episode of “The Wendy Williams Show” aired after 13 years of national syndication. Unfortunately, talk show queen, Wendy Williams, was not in attendance, but producers put together a video montage as a tribute to her long daytime TV run.
Check it out below:
During the final episode, guest host Sherri Shepherd - who will host her own talk show this fall - took a few moments to give flowers to the production team as the audience gave them standing ovations. Lastly, Sherri gave Wendy her flowers as Wendy Watchers stood up to salute the media queen:
Also, actress/singer VanessaWilliams, who was Wendy’s very first guest in July 2009, also made an appearance during the finale episode.
While fans have been heavily posting the #WendyBlackOut hashtag to protest the final episode, someone who used to be close to the daytime talk show host is speaking out about the finale episode.
Kevin Hunter Sr. - Wendy’s ex-husband/former “Wendy Show” producer & co-creator of the show - has plenty to say about Wendy’s send-off and he’s not happy with the way producers handled it.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, he called the finale episode a “travesty,” accusing Denar-Mercury producers of not inviting Wendy to the final episode.
”I feel like it is a travesty on the part of Debmar-Mercury to have such an unceremonious departure without Wendy being involved,” “he said. “It is the first time in the history of talk shows for this to be done, especially for a show that has been on for more than 10 years," he added. "There is absolutely no reason why a bigger celebration that involved Wendy couldn't happen."
Kevin Sr. is taking it personal!
”I know the blood, sweat and tears that went into making the show such a success, [and] I am not happy with the way the show is going out on a personal level and I am truly sorry that the show's fans have to see it go down the way that it is."
Back in March, Kevin Sr. filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Debmar-Mercury, the producer-distributer of the “Wendy Show.”
In 2019, Kevin was fired as an executive producer of the “Wendy Williams Show” after Wendy filed for divorce. He claims he was wrongfully terminated, so he sued Debmar-Mercury. He feels HE’s responsible for the show’s success and claims they owe him. Hmph.
Regarding his lawsuit, he said:
"I was fired, not because of my job performance, I was fired because I was going through a divorce with my ex-wife, and that is unlawful in the state of New York. The way Debmar meticulously involved themselves in my personal life, their want to divide and conquer so that they could have access to Wendy, and the practices they carried on with and the way they involved themselves in with me and my ex-wife is deplorable.”
During his chat with ET, he said the production company has shown "a lack of professionalism throughout the process and in the way they are letting Wendy go out."
”After 13 years, the show has been made a mockery the last two seasons and the reasons the show is having its untimely demise will come out very soon," he continued.
As you know, Wendy was sidelined with health issues for the entire season (as well as financial issues with Wells Fargo), and has not been on to host since 2020.
Kevin Sr. claims that the production company has also "shown a lack of support both health-wise and in keeping the integrity of something so precious that me and my ex-wife created and worked tirelessly and relentlessly on, almost to a fault, to where we had to suffer all kinds of issues in our personal relationship for the sake of the business."
Unfortunately for Wendy Watchers, it was announced in February that the hit daytime series was ending after 13 successful years in syndication. In her absence, a number of guest hosts came to fill in, including Sherri Shepherd, Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Leah Remini, and MichaelRapaport.
It’s unclear if an invitation was actually extended to Wendy to appear on the final episode. It’s possible they could have invited her and she declined. We don’t know. Hopefully, Wendy will make a strong comeback (in some form) like she has been hinting at recently.
Photo: lev radin/Shutterstock
