Radar Online
Whoopi Goldberg feels on top of the world now that she’s back on The View.
The talk show host has reportedly been “strutting around” the studio as her return from her two-week suspension also means a return of the viewers.
Goldberg was suspended from her talk show after making some ill-advised comments about the Holocaust — but now that the actress is back, she’s reportedly feeling more powerful than ever.
When the panelist was semi-booted from the show, she took a good chunk of the viewership with her. The View had a noticeable dip in ratings during the Star Trek actress’ absence — a burn to Whoopi’s rival Meghan McCain, who jumped at the opportunity to gloat about the host’s suspension.
The first full week the host was missing from the program, The View allegedly lost up to 283,000 viewers. The biggest hit was from women aged 18-49 and 25-54. Rating demographics are weird.
Once Goldberg returned, the viewership jumped a whole 113,000. She didn’t win back everyone who jumped when she was suspended without pay, but it’s enough to bring the overall viewership back to 2.3 million viewers. This marked the biggest week-to-week gain for the entire show’s history.
“With Whoopi out from the show on suspension, the ratings dropped to the lowest in total viewers and key demos of the season,” an insider explained. “At the end of the day, TV is a business. The only thing that really matters is ratings.”
The news seems to have gotten to Whoopi’s head. “She’s strutting around the place,” the source said. “She’s peacocking.”
Goldberg was “livid” about the suspension and was telling coworkers she was going to “quit” the show after getting the blunt end of the stick even after she apologized on air.
The Sister Act star sparked outrage when she claimed on the Jan. 31 episode that the Holocaust was “not about race.” The next day, she apologized, saying it was indeed about race because Hitler and the Nazis considered Jews to be an inferior race. Later that night, the network announced her suspension.
ABC News President Kim Godwin called Whoopi’s comments “wrong and hurtful.” She added, “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments.”
What Goldberg ended up learning in that time is how valuable she really is to the show.
