Key Points
Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg was trapped in Italy amid an active volcano eruption.
Goldberg missed The View after all airports were closed in Sicily, where she vacationed during the show’s holiday hiatus.
The 70-year-old provided The View with a video dispatch on the scene.
Whoopi Goldberg experienced a Hot Topic of another kind when she missed The View‘s first new episode since its Fourth of July holiday hiatus due to — yes, really — an active volcano.
The 70-year-old Oscar-winning actress was trapped in Italy over the weekend amid the eruption of Mount Etna in the European region, which forced the closure of major travel routes in the area.
Amid Goldberg’s absence from the talk show, Joy Behar, who typically has Mondays off, filled in for her colleague, and teed up a video dispatch from the scene, which Goldberg sent in for the show to play on the air.
‘The View’ cohosts Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg
Credit: Jeff Lipsky/ABC
“I am in Sicily right now, and Mount Etna, who is one of our active volcanoes here in Italy, decided to go off today,” Goldberg said in the clip, which showed her standing on the balcony of a hotel overlooking the ocean.
Goldberg said she “spent most of the day trying to get back to the United States” to make it back for the live show, but “all of the airports are closed here,” so she was effectively grounded for the time being.
“So, I will be back as soon as I can,” Goldberg promised, before joking, “I know that we got all kinds of stories about our different vacations. I think my story just takes the cake! A volcano ate my homework!”
The show’s audience laughed at the joke back in the studio, where Behar filled in for Goldberg alongside Sunny Hostin, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and actress Michelle Buteau, who saw her role as a scheduled interview guest expand across the entire episode as she sat in as a temporary cohost.
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for The View and Goldberg for an update on her escape from Italy.
Other cohosts were also absent from Monday’s telecast, including Sara Haines, who had to miss the program due to storm damage in her home, and Ana Navarro, who updated her social media followers Monday morning about being stranded in Miami over inclement weather.
Whoopi Goldberg for ‘The View’
Credit: ABC/JEFF LIPSKY
“I’m sorry I won’t be there tomorrow. I’m sure the other ladies will have great, insightful things to say,” Navarro said in a social media video that confirmed she would spend an extra night in her Miami home after “bad weather” forced a ground stoppage at the airport.
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
“We are going to bed because we are beat and exhausted,” she continued. “Take a little time to enjoy The View without me.”
The View airs weekdays on ABC.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source nz.news.yahoo.com ’
