Fans were sad enough that The Wendy Williams Show came to an end last month but now they are devastated to see its social media presence vanishing. On Monday, the talk show’s entire YouTube channel disappeared along with its Facebook page, taking 13 years’ worth of clips with it. Fans on social media are shocked and horrified by this development.
Wendy Williams herself has been off the air for over two years now as she deals with medical issues and works on her personal health. Fans knew for most of Season 13 that it would be the last season of the show, and that one of the guest hosts would take over the time slot for themselves in the fall of 2022. Still, fans are furious that the producers were so quick to take the show’s internet presence down. They wondered if clips from other canceled talk shows would be scrubbed from the internet so quickly.
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The Wendy Williams Show website has been disabled as well, leaving no easily-accessible record of Williams’ time on TV. Some fans have gone so far as to call on the Library of Congress to preserve Williams’ old episodes. Here’s a look at what they’re saying on social media.
Perplexed
Many fans were caught off guard by this disappearance more than anything else. They couldn’t imagine any costs associated with the YouTube channel – if anything, fans imagined that it had taken more work to delete these videos than to leave them.
Racism
Many fans believe that Williams’ show was treated differently than other canceled talk shows because of her race.
Conservatorship
Some fans speculated about Williams’ living situation following her addiction treatment. Many believed that big decisions about her career were being handled by a court-appointed guardianship or conservatorship, much like the situation Britney Spears was in up until recently. Back in February, Variety reported about this possibility but it is not clear if the court ever followed through.
Reasoning
Some viewers did speculate about the deletion and come up with reasonable guesses, but none have been confirmed so far. Due to the complexity of intellectual property rights laws, there’s no telling for certain who benefits from this decision and who does not.
Reaction Memes
Fans went beyond the written word to express their distress at this decision, sharing videos and pictures that depicted their mental state upon seeing that Williams’ show had been taken off the internet.
Preservation
Fans called on the highest authorities in cultural preservation to intervene on Williams’ behalf. Some made hyperbolic comparisons between Williams’ show and other lost troves of knowledge.
In Williams’ Words
Finally, fans shared their favorite clips and reaction memes from The Wendy Williams Show to perfectly encapsulate their feelings. At the time of this writing, the studios have not commented on the change in Williams’ online catalog yet.
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