Goldberg has missed multiple shows over past two years due to the illness
Joy Behar announces Whoopi Goldberg missing show due to COVID diagnosis
Longtime 'View' co-host Whoopi Goldberg missed the show's season premiere due to contracting COVID-19 for the third time.
"The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg has tested positive for COVID-19 again, co-host Joy Behar announced on Tuesday as the show returned from its summer hiatus.
Behar announced that Goldberg was not at the table for the show's season premiere due to the illness.
"It's back! [The virus is] back, but she's on the mend. She's on the tail end and she'll probably be back this week, but sorry she's not here for those of you who were looking forward to seeing her," she said.
Goldberg has had the virus three times, suffering previous bouts in November 2022 and also earlier that year in January.
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"The View" host Whoopi Goldberg on January 30, 2023. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
After returning to the table in November 2022 following her second positive diagnosis, Goldberg told the audience that she came off a tough illness and that it was "not funny."
"A lot of conservatives who posted about how much they hate Dr. Fauci, that they would rather get Covid than ever test again — let me explain something to you as somebody who’s just come off it again. And not a nice, light, you know, because I came off a tough a-- [COVID diagnosis], OK? You don’t want to get this. It’s not funny. You don’t want this. This will kill you! What’s the matter with you people?" she said
Her co-hosts previously demanded the live audience provide their COVID-19 booster status after announcing Goldberg's positive test.
"It’s coming back, another friend of mine got it, too. I mean we have to be careful again," Behar said at the time.
Goldberg also missed time in February due to illness, although it wasn't because of COVID. Goldberg expressed shock the first time she got the virus since she was vaccinated, although "breakthrough" cases have been common over the past two years. COVID vaccine proponents continue to say they are worthwhile because they prevent severe outcomes like hospitalization or death.
DRAMA AT THE VIEW: COVID TESTS WERE ‘FALSE POSITIVES,’ CO-HOSTS REVEAL
"The View" hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin on Sept. 20, 2022. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
The show has had a memorable history with the virus. Vice President Kamala Harris' planned appearance on the show in 2021 was derailed when co-hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin received positive COVID tests and were removed from the show in the middle of a broadcast. It was later revealed the two had false positive tests, but only after remaining hosts Joy Behar and Sara Haines had to conduct the show unscripted until a backstage interview with Harris could be set up.
The show has also repeatedly peddled alarmist talking points about the virus during and since the pandemic.
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Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.
