The View Made A Change I'd Never Seen Before After Whoopi Goldberg Was Snowed In

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will keep The View from continuing its run in the 2026 TV schedule. Of course, that doesn't mean that every host is going to be able to overcome the elements and be there in person, but the show found a way to include Whoopi Goldberg all the same while she was snowed in.

The historic blizzard sweeping the East Coast kept Whoopi Goldberg at home during the latest episode of The View, but she was able to join virtually. The episode was no different from the usual fare the show is known for, save for one exception.

The View Kept Her Seat Empty, Which Was Interesting For One Big Reason

While Whoopi Goldberg is usually ready and willing to go on The View every day she's on, so she had to bring that energy from home due to the weather. Fans noticed, however, that when the episode started, Goldberg's seat was still present on the set.

That may not sound odd to the average person who doesn't regularly tune in, but other readers may know that The View regularly has a four-chair setup for when Joy Behar is out on Mondays. So, why was Goldberg's chair left onstage? Before w efore we make assumptions like Savannah Chrisley, there is an answer.

Why Did The View Keep Whoopi's Chair Empty Rather Than Remove It?

I wondered if Whoopi Goldberg's absence was unexpected, or maybe there was some edict under which The View couldn't remove her chair under any circumstances. Unfortunately, for those who may wish to pin something unsavory to Goldberg, EW reported she had nothing to do with it.

As it turned out, The View left the chair at the beginning of the program as a stylistic choice, to tease in that Whoopi Goldberg would join the show virtually. Perhaps because she wasn't planned to be absent in advance, the show opted out of doing a four-chair setup, and rather surprised the audience due to the headlines surrounding the blizzard. It's also noteworthy a studio audience was not in attendance this latest episode, also due to the weather.

It's also worth noting that the chair was removed for later segments, so it's not as though it was up for the entirety of The View. All this to say, take off the tin-foil hats if you're someone who likes to cook up theories about The View, there's nothing shady going on here. The only big shakeup as of late is the rotating panel of guest hosts to account for Alyssa Farah Griffin's absence, and that seems to be going smoothly.

The View is on ABC on weekdays beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. Those with a Hulu subscription can catch it on streaming there and get the lowdown on what's happening in current events and what the panel has to say about it.