ABC's "The View" has apparently lifted its oft-criticized audience mask mandate three years into the pandemic, as the hosts acknowledged the crowd's smiling faces Monday from the table.
Audience members for the New York-based program have had to don masks since the show returned to the studio in 2021. The audience wore masks during Friday's episode of "The View" but on Monday, the hosts saw the mandate was gone.
"Look at y’all sitting up here with no masks on," co-host Whoopi Goldberg said as the audience applauded. "Wait a minute now. So I’m talking and in my mind I’m going what is different about this audience? And then it hits me. No masks. Because I saw your smile and I saw your teeth. It’s like great. Well, yeah, we’re getting back to where we were."
Co-host Hostin noted it was the "first day" and co-host Sara Haines said it was "nice to see their faces."
It's unclear why the show chose Monday to lift the requirement, although this month the state of emergency in New York is up. Critics of the show were amused at the mandate "finally" being lifted.
Actor Brendan Fraser joined the hosts to discuss his movie, "The Whale" and also noted the change.
Fraser said they made the movie during the pandemic and also noted that it was nice to see "beautiful faces" again.
"It was a film made in the time of Covid. I’m hoping in years to come, if we look back at the movies ever made between 2019 and 2022, there’s kind of a secret ingredient to them all. And I have a theory, I think it was because we cared about one other even more while we were at work. Because by rights, we should have been at home. We can’t live like that. And it’s nice to see your beautiful faces again. I’ve been sitting in many houses and crowds at least recently, and it’s not lost on me we can get together and do this again," he said.
"The View" didn't return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
‘THE VIEW’ CO-HOST JOY BEHAR SAYS SHE WILL WEAR A MASK ‘INDEFINITELY' IN PUBLIC PLACES
"The View" has been a leading voice of COVID alarmism throughout the pandemic, whether it was on mask-wearing or over-hyping the virus' seriousness to children.
Goldberg and the hosts defended comedian Patti LuPone in May 2022 after she went off on an audience member at one of her shows for not wearing a mask.
"You don't want to infect the people on stage who are not wearing masks," Goldberg said, defending LuPone. "Just do it right."
Two co-hosts once tested positive for COVID-19 mid-show and were forced to leave the set just minutes before they were going to interview Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021.
Hostin and co-host Ana Navarro were asked to leave the table and Harris' interview was conducted virtually while she sat backstage. It was later revealed their results were false positives.
Co-host Sara Haines remarked in 2021 that she would rather see her kid in a mask than on a "ventilator," and co-host Sunny Hostin massively overestimated the death toll for children when she suggested last year that "1 percent" of youngsters who got the virus died of it; the death rate at the time for those aged 0-17 was 0.008 percent.
