Joy Behar told viewers she was fired twice from ABC’s daytime talk show The View by co-creator Barbara Walters — and that Walters later expressed regret.
Behar made the revelation on the Sept. 10 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, saying Walters “fired me at one point” and then “she fired me twice, actually.” Behar described one dismissal as being tied to panel dynamics, saying, “It had something to do with the Democrat and a Republican. That’s what they told me.” She recounted a moment during a commercial break when Walters asked her to tell the audience she had “changed my mind,” to which Behar responded, “Barbara, you just fired me. How am I supposed to change my mind?”
Behar, who joined The View at its launch in 1997, was dismissed from the program in 2013 and returned as a full-time co-host in 2015. She has remained a regular member of the show’s Hot Topics panel since her return. On WWHL, Behar said network executives “begged me to come back,” noting that her return was not simply a rehire but followed overtures by the show’s producers.
The comedian and talk show host has previously spoken openly about her departures from The View. In February 2023 she said she was “happy” to have been let go, explaining that many of her backstage friends had left the program and that there was little reason for her to stay. That remark reportedly drew a reaction from Whoopi Goldberg, who became the show’s moderator in 2007; Behar later clarified that she was referring to backstage colleagues.
Behar’s appearance on Cohen’s Bravo program aired amid ongoing interest in the long-running dynamics of The View, which has frequently been shaped by on-air ideological debate among its co-hosts. The show was co-created by reporter and television personality Barbara Walters, who died in December 2022.
Watch What Happens Live airs Sunday through Thursday at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo, with new episodes available to stream the next day on Peacock. Behar’s comments add to a history of candid reflections from former and current hosts about the behind-the-scenes relationships and roster changes that have characterized The View over its decades on air.