(Crankers) After being on the show for 21 seasons, Joy Behar suggested she would scheduled a departure date from “The View.” Behar, 77, is reportedly hoping to eventually step down as the liberal resident of the ABC daytime talk show after the end of her contract in the summer of 2022. She disclosed her plans in a new interview for the paperback of the nonfiction book “Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of ‘The View'” by Ramin Setoodeh of Variety.
“I have a three-year contract,” Behar stated in the book. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t leave if I want to, because they can’t really do anything to me at this point. 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. But the chances of that happening…” She stopped to reflect. “You know, time marches on. I’m not a kid.”
Several sources on “The View” confirmed that Behar was suggesting an exit from the show in 2022. A spokesperson for ABC denied that Behar would leave. “This is not true,” a network rep said. “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.”
If Behar proceeds with her plan, she will leave “The View” just before her 80th birthday. Creator Barbara Walters left the series at age 84 in 2014. Behar has remained on “The View” for a longer time than any other co-host. She joined the talk show when it first launched in 1997 after auditioning for Walters, and she withstood endless exits and reboots over three decades as the TV landscape changed.
In 2013, Behar was sacked when the daytime executives at ABC decided that “The View” should be less political (an idea that sounds ridiculous now). However, two years later, in 2015, she was brought back to the Hot Topics table as ratings plummeted without her, and she is still thriving with her swift commentary on the latest Trump White House scandals.
On the 13th of March, Behar took a leave from “The View” to isolate herself as a safety measure against the coronavirus. While the other co-hosts – Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain – began working remotely, Behar made appearances on the show via satellite from the Hamptons, where she lives.
The paperback edition of “Ladies Who Punch” will be released next week by St. Martin’s Press. The book, which was a New York Times bestseller in April 2019, includes interviews with most of the show’s major players, including Walters, Behar, Rosie O’Donnell, Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd.
Joy Behar has faced lots of backlash this year from remarks she’s made, some about Black people and other topics. At one point Behar claimed Black people were losing voting rights, but was unable to provide any evidence to back up her claim. Joy Behar mocked Lauren Boebert at one point, facing mass amounts of backlash for that as well.
WATCH JOY BEHAR MAKE INCENDIARY COMMENTS: