ABC’s Joy Behar on Thursday denied reports that she is retiring from “The View,” saying she’s “not leaving the show.”
The host addressed a Variety report that circulated Wednesday saying the 77-year-old would retire in the summer of 2022.
“I’m not leaving the show,” she said. “Let me say the rumors of my retirement have been greatly exaggerated.”
Behar said that the pandemic “has changed the game” for retirement. The host then joked that she provides “employment for right-wing media.”
“I mean I’m a job creator over at Breitbart,” she said. “Everything I say appears on Breitbart, I don’t see how I could leave.”
The Variety report that said the host was leaving the show quoted her interview for the nonfiction book “Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of ‘The View.’ ” In the interview she said her three-year contract expires in 2022, adding, “I don’t see myself staying for more.”
“I could be wrong,” Behar said, according to Variety. “If I’m as fabulous in [2022] as I am now, I’ll think about.”
“The View” host referenced that quote on the show Thursday, saying that it still stands.
“As of now, as of today the answer is no. I’m going nowhere,” she said.
An ABC spokesperson told The Hill in a statement that rumors of Behar’s departure are “not true.”
“Joy was asked what happens at the end of her contract and as she herself made clear in the interview, if she’s ‘as fabulous in [2022] as I am now,’ she will be in her seat at the table,” the spokesperson said.
Behar took a leave of absence starting in mid-March, choosing to self-isolate as a safety precaution due to the coronavirus. But she has joined onscreen as the show’s other hosts are working remotely during the pandemic.
ABC fired the host in 2013 after executives determined the show should be less political, but she returned two years later.