New season of The View is here, but moderator Whoopi Goldberg is not. As cohost Joy Behar noted at the beginning of the broadcast, Oscar-winning Ghost actress and longstanding leader of The View table missed Tuesday’s season 27 debut due to COVID-19.

Joy said, “We’re back. Thank you, this is the premiere show of our 27th year on the air. I was here for all of it, except for two, when they canned me. When they sacked my behind.” She continued, “As you can see, Whoopi is not here, she has COVID. Yes, it’s back, it’s 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 that were looking forward to seeing her.”

The 67-year-old has previously missed episodes of The View because of COVID. In November 2022, she already contracted the virus, missing many episodes as a consequence. She had to cope with a COVID infection in January 2022 before that.