The View

Tempers flared on both sides as O'Reilly argued that the mosque has no place near the World Trade Center site because "Muslims killed us on 9/11."

Just as the women stormed off stage -- a rattled Walters proclaimed, "You have just seen what should not happen ... we should be able to have discussions without washing our hands and screaming and walking off stage."

Walters continued, "I love my colleagues, but that should not have happened."

Whoopi and Joy eventually returned to the set ... though Joy did not return to her usual seat, located right next to Bill ... instead sitting on the end of the couch.

Shepherd just filed an income declaration in her ongoing divorce from husband Jeff Tarpley ... and in the docs, Sherri lists that she takes home $54,767 a month ... and says she only works 16 hours a week -- that works out to about $855 per hour!

It all went down during a pop culture lightning round on this morning's show -- in which the POTUS admitted that he knew about Lindsay Lohan's jail stint ... and kinda, sorta dissed Snooki.

Shepherd testified after having a preemie baby weighing 1 pound, 10 ounces, she was going back and forth to the neonatal intensive care unit for several months. She said one day upon returning home, she found pictures of her husband Jeff Tarpley having sex with a random woman, whom he later impregnated.

Shepherd filed for divorce shortly after finding the photos, back in 2006.

"The View" star was leaving court in Los Angeles when we asked her if divorce had made her bitter toward marriage -- she said no ... in fact, she "loves marriage" and she'd "absolutely" do it again ... just not with her ex.

Barbara Walters announced this morning that she will be undergoing heart surgery later this week.

During today's episode of "The View," Walters said she will be having a defective heart valve replaced. She told viewers, "You know how I always say to you how healthy I am ... I've never missed a day's work ... later this week, I'm going to have surgery to replace one faulty heart valve.

She continued, "Lots of people have done this and I have known about this condition for a while now."

Whoopi's expression says it all.

The limber, 62-year-old went on "The View" this morning where he rocked out another rendition of the "American Idol" instant classic -- and revealed that he observed a droopy-bottomed person sucking on a baby bottle when he was inspired to write the song.

Platt's revelation could only mean 2 things -- either the pants-wearer was a grown man in desperate need of a belt ... or Platt wrote a song about an infant.

Rachel Uchitel heard Joy Behar's apology on "The View" this morning loud and clear -- and she forgives the gals for calling her a hooker on last week's show.

Rachel's lawyer, Gloria Allred, released a statement that read in part, "We accept ABC's apology and this resolves the matter with ABC. Our action and this apology should also send a message to the public that Rachel values her reputation and that she will consider all of her legal options against anyone or any entity which defames her."

Just moments ago on-air, Behar read the same statement that was sent out via press release last week ... and she didn't look happy about it.

As we previously reported, Rachel threatened to sue "The View" over Joy's comment -- and Allred didn't feel the written apology the show released was good enough.

Rachel's lawyer, Gloria Allred, wants "The View" to air the apology on the show -- or it doesn't count.

Rachel threatened to sue "The View" over Joy Behar's joke on Thursday's show: "Yeah, you-ka-tell she's a hooker." The show has already issued a written apology ... but Gloria says the mea culpa needs a mic.

A rep for the show tells TMZ: "Joy Behar made a play on Ms. Uchitel's name. This was intended as a joke. We sincerely apologize for the choice of words and for any misimpression the joke may have created."

The play on words: Joy saying "Yeah, you-ka-tell she's a hooker."