Joy Behar Pulled From ‘The View’ for the Rest of the Week

A familiar face will be missing from The View‘s Hot Topics table this week. Joy Behar has been pulled from the long-running ABC talk show for the remainder of the week after she tested positive for COVID-19, moderator Whoopi Goldberg announced on Tuesday’s show.

“Joy is out this week. You know why? She finally got COVID. Three years, four years in, it finally got her,” Goldberg told the in-studio audience and viewers watching from home, alluding to the fact that up until now, Behar, 81, has successfully managed to avoid contracting COVID-19. Co-host Sara Haines quipped that Behar “can finally stop bragging now,” with Sunny Hostin chiming in with, “About her special blood type and all of that.”

Although Behar will be out for the remainder of the week, her spot at the Hot Topics table will not be empty. Community alum Yvette Nicole Brown took her place on the Tuesday show, according to Deadline. Brown has been a frequent guest co-host on the show over the years, though it is unclear if she will remain on The View until Behar returns.

While this marks Behar’s first rodeo with COVID-19, it does not mark her first absence due to the illness. Back in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the long-time co-host took several days off from the show as a precaution, telling fans, “I’m in a higher risk group because of my age, but I’m perfectly healthy. I don’t look my age, but I’m actually up there. The number makes me dizzy.”

Meanwhile, many of Behar’s co-hosts have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past. In January 2022, Goldberg tested positive for the virus, later testing positive a second time in November 2022. In 2021, both Sara Haines, who was absent in January 2022 after having close contact with someone with the virus, and Ana Navarro were pulled from the show during the live broadcast just before they were set to interview Vice President Kamala Harris due to positive test results. However, they later explained that their tests were false positives.

Behar’s absence also comes just a month after Alyssa Farah Griffin missed The View. At the time, Goldberg explained that Griffin was “not feeling well,” with the former White House Director of Strategic Communications and Assistant to President Donald Trump sharing with fans on social media that she was “out sick with a cold.” The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.