OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
Outspoken liberal Joy Behar says she was glad when “The View” served her walking papers in 2013.
“I was glad to be fired,” 79-year-old Behar explained. “I basically was sick of the show at that point for some reason, I don’t even remember why.”
According to a new book by Ramin Setoodeh, Elisabeth Hasselbeck was fired on the same day and burst into tears.
“The View” was created in 1997 by Barbara Walters as a daytime talk show, featuring Behar as one of the original panelists.
“She doesn’t hold a grudge,” co-host Sunny Hostin said of Behar’s temperament when being fired.
“I think because she doesn’t remember what happened the day before. That’s how she’s been able to deal with this show. She just leaves it at the table and then moves on for another day.”
Behar said, “I’ve had to apologize, which I’m happy to do in order to save mine and everybody else’s job. I don’t care. Even if I don’t mean it, I’ll do it.”
“Even if I look like I’m in a hostage takeover, I’ll still do it, because if you don’t do it, you lose your job and everybody else’s.”
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The firing seems to have been a soft one, as Behar continued to guest co-host throughout 2014 and 2015.
But once ratings for the chat fest began slipping, a new set of producers were installed when Donald Trump ran for president. Soon after, they asked Behar to return in a permanent role.
An executive producer who pushed for Behar to come back explained, “I just knew that we needed to get back into the cultural conversation. And I knew she was going to be the person who could actually do that. She’s always been the person who says what the audience is thinking but is afraid to say.”
