Whoopi Goldberg Reveals Late ‘View’ Producer Bill Geddie Defended Her After She Was Suspended: “Don’t Ever Think You Did Something You Shouldn’t Have”

Whoopi Goldberg quickly learned that public scrutiny is the name of the game when it comes to co-hosting The View, all thanks to Bill Geddie. During today’s episode of the long-running daytime talk show, the moderator revealed how the show’s former executive producer, who died last week at 68 years old, defended her when she was suspended for two weeks.

Goldberg, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, Alyssa Farah Griffin and ex-co-host Sherri Shepherd gathered around the Hot Topics table to remember Geddie, who co-created the show with Barbara Walters in 1997 before exiting in 2014.

When it came time for Goldberg to reflect, she explained how Geddie helped her through the bad press — including a time when she was suspended by the network.

“I was asked to stay off for a week or two. They told me to take a break,” she said, without specifying the circumstances. “Bill wrote me and said, ‘You know, this is the nature of the show. That’s why we brought you in — we’re paying you. We pay you to do this, we pay you to give your opinion. Not everybody’s gonna like it. But don’t ever think that you did something you shouldn’t have done because that’s what we do at The View.‘”

While she didn’t describe the specifics of her suspension, the longtime moderator was likely referring to her 2022 comments about the Holocaust — in which she claimed the tragedy was not “about race,” but rather “man’s inhumanity to man” and “two groups of white people.”

Following the backlash, Goldberg issued a public apology — but was still suspended by ABC News President Kim Godwin for two weeks for her “wrong and hurtful comments.”

During her tribute to Geddie, Goldberg also recalled her rough first week on the show back in 2007. After one of the episodes, she was criticized for defending Michael Vick, who had just pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting charges.

“My first week started with me having a conversation with y’all about Michael Vick. [The public was] saying, ‘Burn that broad. Burn that broad, get her off television,'” she said, before adding, “Every time I’ve stepped in it, [Geddie would] say, ‘That’s the beauty of the show. Everyone has an opinion and that’s why we do it.'”

The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.