Rosie O'Donnell is in Oprah's bad books after hinting on Howard Stern's show that Oprah and her friend Gayle King are gay.

During an exchange with Stern, O'Donnell said: ''I don't know. I think [Oprah's] never been married and she's exceptionally close to Gayle. I don't know that she and Gayle are necessarily doing each other, but I think they are the emotional equivalent of ...''  with Stern filling in, ''A gay couple.''

The Irish-American celebrity then added, ''When they did that road trip, that's as gay as it gets... I'm just saying, listen, if you ask me, that's the couple.''

King was irritated when asked about the story earlier this week, denying there was anything to the gay stuff on ''Access Hollywood'' at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York.

''If we were gay, we would tell you -- we would so tell you. We wouldn't try to keep that a secret because there's nothing wrong with being gay...The truth of the matter is we're not. It's hard enough for me to get a date on Saturday night as it is.''

Meanwhile, a long-time Winfrey associate is upset that Rosie is shooting her mouth off. ''This is just so dumb," the person told the Chicago Sun Times. "Rosie should know better. Her comments seemed to imply there really was something to this story, when there isn't.'

The reference was about the openly gay TV personality's appearance on Stern's Sirius XM radio show late last month.

The source said, ''Look. Oprah just shot a cover of ‘O’ [magazine] with Ellen DeGeneres, did a whole show with Ellen and [her spouse] Portia de Rossi in their first-ever TV interview together...and hung out with Ellen on Michigan Avenue.

''Don't you think, if there ever was a time for Oprah to come out -- that would be it?

''For the umpteenth time, Oprah and Gayle aren't gay!''