Why The View Fired Joy Behar, Where She Is Now And How She Feels About It Today

When "The View" made its debut in 1997, it shook up daytime TV in a way that game shows and soap operas never did. The ABC talk show's panel spanned several generations and initially featured Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Joy Behar, Debbie Matenopoulos, and broadcast legend Barbara Walters, who got heated as they talked about hot topics of the day.

Cast shakeups have been a big thing on "The View." Matenopoulos was the first to go; when she was fired in 1998, it was because the show's demographic audience couldn't relate to her. A roller coaster of new hosts came and went: Lisa Ling, Rosie O'Donnell, and "Survivor" alum Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

By 2007, Walters and Behar were the only two original "View" panel members left, and six years, later Behar departed the show. At the time, she told Deadline she made the decision to leave because she wanted to focus on other career endeavors. But in 2022, Behar revealed that she was actually fired from "The View." "Somebody wanted me gone," she told People. "It was not 100 percent my choice." Behar added that she didn't like the direction the show was headed at the time and was glad when she was told ABC wasn't renewing her contract. She also pointed to politics as a possible reason for her ouster. "That's not the first time I've been fired for my politics," she said of her liberal leanings.

Although she was fired from "The View" in 2013, Joy Behar returned to guest host several times. And just two years later, she was back in a full-time seat on the panel, just in time to debate the 2016 presidential campaign. "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in," Behar said at the time, per Dan's Papers. "I'm happy to be back home." The comedian added that she was looking forward to discussing hot topics, especially Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's presidential bids.

In an interview with TV Insider at the time, Behar revealed that producers had been trying to get her back for a year. She also dished that her manager worked out a good deal for her to return to "The View." "I have a better role," she said. "I'll have more of an input into how the show runs. I'll be sitting in the moderator's seat on Fridays for a while, because they're going live." While she admitted that she would not have a producer's credit, she added, "I don't produce, but I feel as they respect my opinion over there right now. They can use help from people who know the show well, and I'm one of those people."

Joy Behar is the only original panelist still on "The View." And while she did have that temporary hiatus, it was practically a blink-and-you-missed-it moment. But she sometimes does still remind fans that she hasn't actually been on the show 26 years in a row. In February 2023, she brought her firing up during a discussion on workplace friendships. "If I don't have friends at the job, I will not keep the job," Behar said in a video shared by The New York Post. "So, when I was fired the last time from this show, people say to me, 'Were you okay with that?' and my answer is, I was happy, because all my friends had left already. So, there was no reason to stay anymore.'"

When co-host Whoopi Goldberg questioned Behar's claim that she had no friends on the panel in 2013 –- Goldberg joined "The View" in 2007 –- Behar explained that she wasn't talking about her. "My backstage friends had left. And I don't like to work when I don't have friends," she said.

And in May 2023, Behar brought up her firing again—in a slightly saltier way. During a segment about late music legend Tina Turner, Behar said, "There's something about her. I've been on this show for 26 years, right, with a small hiatus as we all know — forced," she said, per Page Six. Some members of the panel chuckled at Behar's mention that her hiatus from 'The View" was just as she said, "forced."