Whoopi Goldberg Taking Leave of Absence From ‘The View’

The View is going to look a little different for a while, with Whoopi Goldberg taking a hiatus from the hit ABC talk show. During Monday’s episode, the Goldberg was missing from the Hot Topics table and former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin sat in as a guest host alongside Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, Ana Navarro, and Joy Behar, who explained the reason for Goldberg’s extended absence.

At the top of the show, Behar told viewers that Goldberg would be “gone for a while.” According to Behar, Goldberg’s absence comes as she films Amazon Prime’s upcoming series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys. Behar explained, “if you’re wondering where Whoopi is, the girl’s got a movie she’s making and she will be back when she finishes whatever she’s doing. So she’s gone for a while.”

Variety reported last week that Goldberg, who has been a staple on The View since 2007, joined the cast of Anansi Boys, which is currently filming in Scotland. Goldberg is set to portray Bird Woman, the God of Birds, alongside other cast members including Malachi Kirby, Delroy Lindo, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Emmanuel Ighodaro, Cecilia Noble, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, and Don Gilet. The film follows Charlie Nancy, also known as Fat Charlie, “a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father.” When his father dies, however, Charlie discovers that he was Anansi: Trickster God of stories, and learns that he has a brother, Spider, who now enters his life, “determined to make it more interesting-but making it a lot more dangerous instead.”

“I have been a fan of this book for a very long time and when Neil Gaiman told me it was being brought to the screen, I did everything I could to be part of it to help make people aware of Anansi and all his magic,” Goldberg told Variety.

Goldberg’s hiatus follows her weeks-long suspension in February. The longtime host was handed a two-week suspension from the talk show after Goldberg stated on-air that the Holocaust wasn’t “about race” during a panel discussion about the recent banning of Maus by a school board in Tennessee. Upon her return to The View later that month, Goldberg called it “an honor to sit at this table” as she vowed to “keep having tough conversations.”