Joy Behar sets record straight about ‘The View’ retirement rumors
She’s not seeking a new view.
Joy Behar’s rep has shut down rumors that the star is set to quit “The View” ahead of her 80th birthday in October.
Rumors circulated that Behar’s three-year contract with ABC expires this summer, with the Independent Journal Review reporting that the veteran panelist could be gearing up to announce her retirement “any day now.”
“Fake news,” her rep told The Post Tuesday, revealing that Behar has signed another three-year deal with ABC.
The new contract will keep her tied to the network until 2025.
It’s unclear how much money ABC forked over for Behar, although it’s likely that it’s paying the controversial comedian a handsome, eight-figure sum.
Behar — who is the only original panelist remaining at “The View” — was purportedly paid $7 million per year as part of her previous three-year deal with the network.
The high-powered star could now command even more, given that ABC is still struggling to fill Meghan McCain’s spot on “The View,” almost a year after the conservative commentator quit the show.
At present, there are just four full-time co-hosts of “The View,” with Behar appearing alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines. Ana Navarro appears one day a week.
Behar moderates the show every Friday and also filled in when Goldberg was spectacularly suspended from the show for two weeks in February for saying the Holocaust wasn’t about race.
Rumors that Behar was set to leave “The View” have been perpetuated by the star.
The funnywoman told reporter Ramin Setoodeh in 2020 that it was unlikely she would sign a new contract with ABC in 2022.
“I have a three-year contract,” Behar told Setoodeh in his best-selling book about “Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of ‘The View.’ “
“I don’t see myself staying for more [time]. That’s it! I could be wrong. If I’m as fabulous in [2022] as I am now, I’ll think about,” she added. “But the chances of that happening … You know, time marches on. I’m not a kid.”
Behar is one of the original “The View” panelists alongside Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulos and Barbara Walters. The show premiered in 1997.
Behar stayed on the program for 16 years before she was let go in 2013. She returned to the panel in 2015, and has spent the past seven years at the center of the show’s “Hot Topics” table.
The avowed liberal often declares her disdain for former President Donald Trump and frequently hit headlines for clashing with former co-host McCain.
However, Behar has continued to stay in the spotlight even without her conservative sparring partner.
Earlier this year, she infamously face-planted while walking on set to take her seat at the show’s table.
She also garnered criticism when she was pictured maskless inside a swanky New York City restaurant just days after telling audiences she would be wearing a face covering in public spaces “indefinitely.”