Actress-turned-TV presenter Whoopi Goldberg missed an episode of her panel show The View on Monday (06.07.26) after she was left stranded in Italy due to a volcanic eruption.
Whoopi Goldberg is stranded in Italy after a volcanic eruption grounded flights.
The actress-turned-TV presenter has been enjoying a vacation on the island of Sicily and was due to return to work on her panel show The View on Monday (06.07.26) but Whoopi had to miss the episode as she was unable to fly back to the US because plumes of ash from Mount Etna led to the island’s Catania airport being closed.
Joy Behar stepped in for Whoopi on Monday’s episode of Thew View and explained her absence, saying: “So you may be asking: ‘Why am I here on a Monday?’ I asked myself the same question.
“But [producer producer Brian Teta] begged me to come in. Begged me, on his knees, where he belongs. Why? Because we are down three co-hosts today. Whoopi is using the old volcano excuse. Watch!”
Viewers were then shown a video of Whoopi explaining her predicament. She said: “I am in Sicily right now. Mount Etna, who is one of our active volcanoes here in Italy, decided to go off today.
“We have spent most of the day trying to get back to [the] United States and all of the airports are closed here. So I will be back as soon as I can.
“And I know that we got all kinds of stories about our different vacations. Well, I think my story just takes the cake! A volcano ate my homework!”
Whoopi was missing from The View’s line-up along with co-host Ana Navarra, who was unable to travel to the studio in New York City due to bad weather in Miami, Florida, and Sara Haines, who was busy fixing “storm damage”.
Joy explained: “Ana is stuck in Miami because of the weather. It’s always hot there, what’s the problem? Sara is dealing with storm damage. How many people are dealing with storm damage? Anybody in this group? No, just Sara!”
Ana addressed her absence from the show in a post on Instagram in which she explained she’d spent hours at the airport trying to catch a flight to the Big Apple but she wasn’t going to make it in time.
She said: “So I’m sorry I won’t be there tomorrow. I’m sure the other ladies will have great, insightful things to say. Take a little time to enjoy The View without me.”
Whoopi Goldberg stranded in Italy after volcano erupts
