Whoopi Goldberg reveals she leaked fake gossip to expose The View mole

The legendary actress manning the Whoopi Goldberg War Room — traditionally functioning as an outward offensive targeting Diablo, terroristic cactus toys, and note-passing cohosts — has revealed that the operation once opened a covert secret intelligence branch targeting an internal gossip mole behind the scenes at The View.

The 68-year-old moderator and Ghost star unveiled the reconnaissance Thursday at the Hot Topics table, as she and her cohosts discussed the dangers of gossip in social and professional circles.

"You know what I like to do? I like to try to catch a gossip. Because what you can do is you can plant false information and see if it makes its way around," conservative cohost and former Donald Trump White House associate Alyssa Farah Griffin said, which jogged Goldberg's memory that she, too, had launched an undercover mission to expose a View leaker.

"We have done that, we have done that," Goldberg repeated, looking toward cohost Joy Behar. "We did that to see who was talking. Yeah."

Behar at first reacted with confusion, before looking toward the audience and muttering, "Oh," seemingly as battlefield flashbacks flooded her memory.

"Now, you see, that's a little bit of gossip I would like to know about," legal expert Sunny Hostin said as the audience laughed, just before the show went to commercial.

EW has reached out to a representative for The View for comment.

During the Meghan McCain era of the program, a series of press leaks plagued the show — including a few Page Six stories that cited alleged backstage tension between McCain and her cohosts. McCain would eventually leave the show in 2021, and went on to slam the program and her former colleagues on her Meghan McCain Has Entered the Chat podcast and in subsequent interviews.

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.

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