Joy Behar is looking back at a conversation with former colleague Barbara Walters that nearly meant the end of her time on The View. Behar, 79, recalled Walters, 92, firing her in 2006 for the “honest mistake” of spilling that Rosie O’Donnell, 60, would be joining the panel on the talk show during a preview of Behind the Table: A View Reunion shared by PEOPLE.
Recalling the conversation with Walters to the other original The View panelists Meredith Vieira, Star Jones and Debbie Matenopoulous, Behar remembered being “stunned” by Walters’ reaction to her slip. “Phone rings. ‘Hello, Joy? It’s Barbara,’” Behar shared in the preview of the special. “I said, ‘Oh hi, Barbara!’” Walters, who founded The View in 1997, then told her, “I just got a call from Entertainment Tonight and guess what they said? They said, ‘Oh, and Rosie O’Donnell’s coming on the show.’ And guess who told them?”
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Behar jokingly threw out Vieira’s name, which had Vieira, 68, Jones, 60, and Matenopoulous, 47, cracking up. “Did you really? What?” a shocked and amused Vieira responded while pretending to throw her drink at Behar, as Matenopoulous joked, “She threw you under the bus!” Behar continued, “I said, ‘Meredith Vieira?’ [Walters] said, ‘No, you! Joy Behar did that. And I want you to know that I’m not renewing your contract.’”
Behar said she was shocked Walters would go that far: “I said, ‘Barbara, it was just a mistake. It was an honest mistake,’” she recalled, adding as a joke, “You know how I am when I’m shopping!” Walters wasn’t buying it though. “‘You’re a loose cannon, and I’m not renewing your contract,’” Behar recalled Walters responding. “I said, ‘Barbara, come on! It’s like, no big deal here.’” Walters once again told her “No!” before hanging up on her.
“For a minute, I was stunned,” Behar remembered. “I was like, ‘Really? For that?’” Of course, Walters must have changed her mind, as Behar has continued in her role on the show since its inception in 1997. The View is currently celebrating its 25th season, starring Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, and Sara Haines. For more details about what happened between the original panel, fans of The View will have to tune in to Behind the Table: A View Reunion, streaming exclusively on Hulu Monday, June 20.
