‘The View’ Joy Behar Denies Rumor She’s Leaving Show: ‘I’m Not Leaving’

Joy Behar is setting the record straight after reports surfaced that she was planning to retire from The View after her contract ended in 2022. Just a day after the first report was published, citing the co-host’s statements in an upcoming book, Behar addressed the “greatly exaggerated” rumors on Thursday’s episode of the ABC talk show, shutting down any speculation that she has plans to leave the discussion table.

“They’re always talking about me leaving the show. But I’m not leaving the show. Let me say that rumors of my retirement have been greatly exaggerated,” Behar said, going on to speak of the affects the coronavirus pandemic has had on her outlook. “You know, here’s the thing, what am I going to do? This pandemic has changed the game. At one point you think, ‘Gee, I could retire and take a cruise around the world.’ I won’t even watch reruns of Love Boat at this point. So, where am I gonna go?”

Behar went on to joke that she provides “employment for right-wing media,” adding that she’s “a job creator over at Breitbart. Everything I say appears on Breitbart, I don’t see how I could leave.”

Rumors that Behar was planning to retire were sparked on Wednesday after Variety shared an excerpt from the paperback edition of journalist Ramin Setoodeh’s book The Explosive Inside Story of The View. In the book, Behar is quoted as suggesting that she would exit the talk show after Season 21.

“I have a three-year contract,” she said. “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. But the chances of that happening… You know, time marches on. I’m not a kid.”

On Thursday’s episode of The View, Behar referenced that quote, explaining that she told the reporter, “If I’m as fabulous in 2022 as I am now, I’ll probably be here.”

“You just don’t know,” she continued. “No one knows what they are going to do in the next two years. Look at what just happened to all of us in this world. We never predicted this. You can’t predict anything. But as of now, as of today the answer is no. I’m going nowhere.”

The reports of her possible departure have also been denied by her representative, who said in a statement that “this is not true.”

Behar remains the only co-host from the original discussion table of The View, having joined the series upon its debut in 1997. In 2013, she was let go from the talk show as ABC daytime executives decided to make it less political, but she was brought back two years later.