Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and the hosts of The View paid tribute to the late Barbara Walters on Tuesday.
The legendary Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalism pioneer and co-creator of the daytime talk show died on Friday at 93 years old. ABC News confirmed the news, though no cause of death has yet been given. Disney CEO Bob Iger tweeted that Walters died on Friday evening at her home in New York.
Tuesday's episode of The View started with a montage and tribute to Walters, calling her "the woman who changed the way the world watches daytime TV."
"It's her vision, her passion, her show, and today, The View remembers Barbara Walters," the intro concluded before Goldberg and Behar took the stage alongside co-hosts Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin.
Behar began, saying of Walters, "People have been talking about her on all of the shows, but we knew her better than anyone, I think."
Walters' longtime co-host marveled that the groundbreaking journalist "had no mentors or role models, she was the original role model for everybody else."
"She very much defied sexism and defied ageism," she continued. "She went right into the jaws of the lion... She started The View when she was 68 years old — very few people start a brand new career at 68."
"The industry had to respect her," Goldberg agreed. "She did not allow them not to respect her."
"There was nobody like her," she continued, as Hostin recalled being shocked to get help and input from Walters on her interview questions when she first started on The View. "Like all firsts, she's the first, and there are many of us duplicates. But there will never be another Barbara Walters."
Later in the show, former View co-hosts Meredith Vieira, Debbie Matenopoulos and Star Jones joined via telephone and Zoom to remember Walters, with Jones praising her as “the best gossiper” who also "loved a dirty joke."
“Barbara is the one who introduced me to the whole Upper East Side social scene,” Jones added. “The best seat in the house at any social event was next to Barbara Walters. She could tell you everything about everybody in the room.”
Matenopoulos, the youngest co-host in View history, said Walters “single-handedly changed my life. I was a 22-year-old journalism student when she picked me to sit next to her on this show.”
Elisabeth Hasselbeck also joined the panel via Zoom to remember Walters, praising her for being "compassionately curious."
"She and I had a layered relationship," she added. "She was my TV mom, my mentor... for 10 years I had the privilege of sitting next to Barbara Walters and getting my masters in broadcasting, I like to say."
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