Joan Rivers, 'Fox and Friends', and the great attention contest

Who loves publicity more: Joan Rivers or Fox News? It’s neck and Botoxed neck, you guys. Yesterday, Fox & Friends canceled Rivers’ appearance, which they say was a scheduling error. Rivers took to Twitter, where she said it wasn’t an innocent mistake. “I made a joke about Sarah Palin that was picked up by @TMZ… As a result, our appearance on the Fox News Channel tomorrow morning has been canceled.” She told a similar story to Joy Behar:

The executive producer for Fox & Friends denies that Rivers has been banned. “If Joan doesn’t want to come on the morning program, where she was invited, to push her next project, that’s no problem,” she said in a statement. “We have plenty of people begging [to be on].” Rivers’ rep did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

Gee, I wonder if this is getting blown out of proportion in an attempt to drum up buzz for all parties. Rivers gets to make her “Sarah Palin is stupid” joke, Fox gets to act incensed, Rivers gets more attention for the launch of her upcoming “reality” show, and Fox & Friends gets to trumpet how in-demand it is. I think everyone wins! Except for America.

Does this change how much I loved Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work? Or make the Rivers episode of Fresh Air anything other than magical? Of course not. But does it make me more likely to watch Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best or Fox & Friends? Not particularly.

What about you, PopWatchers? Rivers vs. Fox: Who wins?