Joy Behar’s Biggest ‘The View’ Moments So Far

Daytime TV should be a bit more Joy-ful on Monday, October 19, as Joy Behar finally returns to The View after having to sit out for more than two weeks with a shoulder dislocation. Considering the 84-year-old has been a panelist on the show for 28 of 30 seasons now, The View just doesn’t feel the same without Behar at the table!

Since The View’s 1997 premiere, Behar has been unapologetically herself — well, almost unapologetically. The outspoken comedian has had to walk back her words a few times over the years, as you’ll see below. Here are our picks for her biggest View moments so far, both highs and lows.

1997: Behar is there on day one

Behar joined Star Jones, Meredith Vieira, Debbie Matenopoulos, and The View creator Barbara Walters at the table when the ABC talk show started in 1997. “When we came on the air in ’97, people were not used to hearing women on a daytime show talk about politics,” she told TV Insider in 2016. “Everyone expected light fare like fashion and decorating, and then came this show that actually tackled real topics. That is why it caught on.”

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1997: Behar and RuPaul drag each other

Behar and RuPaul, in drag, traded barbs in a 1997 after he called her butch and she called him a b***h. “Joy got genuinely angry at RuPaul and said, ‘You think that I’m going to take fashion advice from a drag queen?!’” former executive producer Bill Geddie told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016. “He was mad at her. They genuinely did not like each other in that moment. And I thought, ‘You don’t see this stuff on TV — this is great.’”

2006: Barbara Walters nearly gives Behar the boot

In 2006, after Meredith Vieira announced her decision to leave The View, Behar accidentally confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that Rosie O’Donnell would be the show’s new moderator. Walters nearly fired Behar for it, as the latter revealed to Vieira in a 2021 episode of the show’s Behind the Table podcast.

“[Walters] said to me, ‘I just got a call from Entertainment Tonight saying that someone told them that Rosie O’Donnell is coming on the show. And do you know who that person was?’ And I said, ‘Meredith Vieira?’” Behar remembered. “[Walters] goes, ‘No, not Meredith Vieira, Joy Behar. And I want you to know I’m not renewing your contract.’”

Two minutes later, though, Walters changed her mind and affirmed that the two of them were friends, Behar added.

2009: Behar and her fellow View hosts win Daytime Emmy Awards

The hosts of The View had been nominated for Daytime Emmys in the Best Talk Show Host category for every year since the show’s debut by the time they finally won the category in 2009.

The only problem was none of those hosts at the time — Behar, Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Sherri Shepherd — was present at the ceremony.

“I always said that the key to success was showing up — this time I was wrong,” Behar later quipped, per the New York Daily News.

2010: Behar walks off set in protest of Bill O’Reilly’s comment

When The View hosted Bill O’Reilly, the then-Fox News anchor argued against the prospect of a mosque near the World Trade Center site, claiming, “Muslims killed us on 9/11.” Outraged, Behar and Goldberg exited the stage.

“Even on the day that I walked off the set because I found what Bill O’Reilly said about all Muslims being terrorists very offensive, I wasn’t thinking, ‘Gee, this is going to be in the news,’’ Behar later told TV Insider. “I say what I believe and the chips fall where they may. … Barbara thought it was rude when I walked out on O’Reilly, but I just couldn’t sit there with him.”

2013: Behar exits the show because, she’d later claim, someone wanted her gone

In 2013, Behar exited The View with a send-off that featured cameos from Vieira, Joan Rivers, Regis Philbin, and Tony Bennett, per The Hollywood Reporter.

But the departure was not entirely amicable. “Somebody wanted me gone,” Behar told People in 2017. “It was not 100 percent my choice. … The way I heard it, and I don’t know what’s true because you never know, they got rid of a Republican so they wanted to get rid of a Democrat. That’s not the first time I’ve been fired for my politics. So I wasn’t shocked at that analysis.”

2015: The View loses advertisers over Behar and Michelle Collins’ Miss Colorado comments

Behar returned to The View in 2015 and upset viewers and advertisers that same year when she and cohost Michelle Collins made derisive comments regarding Miss Colorado Kelley Johnson’s Miss America monologue about working as a nurse and treating a patient with Alzheimer’s.

“Why does she have a doctor’s stethoscope on?” Behar said, reacting to Johnson’s monologue.

Following the backlash — which included Johnson & Johnson and Eggland’s Best pulling their ads from The View and the hashtag #NursesUnite trending on social media — Collins and Behar apologized on air. For her part, Behar said she wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize Johnson was actually a nurse and not just wearing a costume. “It was just stupid and inattentive on my part,” she said, per Entertainment Weekly.

2018: Behar mocks Pence’s faith, then apologizes

Behar issued another mea culpa in 2018 after making a controversial comment about then-Vice President Mike Pence’s Christian faith. In the offending incident, Behar responded to former Trump staffer Omarosa Manigault saying on Celebrity Big Brother that Pence believes Jesus Christ talks to him.

“It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you,” Behar said at the time, per The Washington Post. “That’s called mental illness, if I’m not correct, hearing voices.”

She later apologized on air, telling viewers, “I was raised to respect everyone’s religious faith, and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said.”

2024: Behar moves her fellow hosts with a comment about friendship

Behar got her View hosts emotional in 2024 when she said during a discussion of NFL star Jason Kelce’s retirement that she’ll miss her friends when she eventually leaves the show.

“He sounds more upset that he’s leaving his friends,” Behar said on air, per Deadline. “When I leave this show, it will not be because I’m worried about my future. It’ll be because I will miss my friends. That’s basically it.”

At that, cohost Sunny Hostin put her arm on Behar’s shoulder, while fellow panelist Sara Haines wrapped the comedian in a hug.

“I love when you say that,” Haines said.

Cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin added, “The good news is you can never leave us.”

2025: Behar riles up the Trump administration

In a 2025 episode of The View, Behar opined that President Donald Trump was lashing out at former President Barack Obama out of jealousy. That comment hit a nerve in the Trump administration, apparently, because White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told EW that Behar was “an irrelevant loser suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome” and claimed The View had “hit the lowest ratings” in recent years.

A spokesperson for The View fact-checked the latter claim, clarifying to EW the show was “ranking No. 1 in households and total viewers among all network daytime talk shows and news programs for the fifth straight season.”

The Trump administration’s penchant for name-calling continues on the White House website, which currently describes Behar as a “demented cohost,” a “disgusting, has-been harpy,” and a “geriatric shrew.”

2026: The View announces Behar’s hosting record

In the talk show’s Season 30 premiere in 2026, Goldberg announced Behar had broken a record. “Joy is also celebrating a milestone,” Goldberg said. “She has been here for 28 out of the 30 seasons, which means she has now officially hosted more seasons of an American talk show than any other woman.”

To that, Behar joked, “All I can say is that I was here when the show was in black and white, and Barbara Walters, I said to Barbara, ‘We’re going to get old on the show.’ She said, ‘You’ve got to get old anyway.’”

The View, Season 30, Weekdays, 11a/10c