The View co-host Joy Behar announced she would be sticking around the ABC show after rumors of her leaving spread.
“They’re always talking about my leaving the show, but I’m not, I’m not leaving the show — let me say the rumors of my retirement have been greatly exaggerated,” the host said on Thursday’s episode. “Here’s the thing: What am I going to do? This pandemic has changed the game.”
She added: “Let’s not forget that I provide employment for right-wing media. I mean, I am a job creator over at Breitbart. Everything I say appears on Breitbart. I don’t see, you know, how I could leave.”
Behar was forced to dispel the rumors after Variety ran a piece on Wednesday, which quoted the host saying she may be ready to move on from the show.
“I have a three-year contract,” Behar said in the interview, which will appear in the book Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of ‘The View’ by Variety’s Ramin Setoodeh.
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t leave if I want to, because they can’t really do anything to me at this point. I don’t see myself staying for more [time]. That’s it! I could be wrong. If I’m as fabulous in [2022] as I am now, I’ll think about,” she continued. “But the chances of that happening … you know, time marches on. I’m not a kid.”
Multiple sources at The View also said that Behar was thinking about leaving in 2022, but a spokesperson for ABC denied the claim.
“Joy was asked what happens at the end of her contract and as she herself made clear in the interview, if she’s ‘as fabulous in [2022] as I am now,’ she will be in her seat at the table,” the representative said.
The 77-year-old host is currently the longest-serving member of the show. There are now four hosts on The View after Abby Huntsman left in January following clashes with the show’s top brass. Huntsman said she was leaving to work on her father’s gubernatorial campaign, but sources from the show said she left in part because she was treated “like shit.”
So far, The View has decided to stick with only four hosts following Huntsman’s departure. If Behar leaves, the show could potentially replace her with guest host Ana Navarro, who appears on Fridays, or guest host Sara Haines, who has made regular appearances during the coronavirus pandemic. Haines was a former regular co-host of The View during its 20th and 21st seasons.
