The View’s Whoopi Goldberg has revealed that she and her fellow hosts were forced to evacuate the studio this morning after a ‘grease fire’ broke out in the kitchen used by fellow ABC program, The Tamron Hall Show.
Explaining why she and the panel walked out to Billy Joel’s 1989 hit song We Didn’t Start the Fire on Wednesday’s show, Whoopi, 68, said: ‘We didn’t start the fire because it actually happened next door at Tamron Hall’s studio.
‘This morning we had to evacuate the studio because there was a fire, that we did not start.
‘We don’t know who started it, we don’t know what started it,’ the Sister Act star continued as photos and footage of them during the evacuation flashed up on the screen, which led Whoopi to ask: ‘Why we being photographed just walking down the street?!’
The View’s hosts including Whoopi Goldberg were forced to evacuate the studio on Wednesday morning due to a fire
Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar and Alyssa Farah Griffin were also photographed standing out on the street
Several fire engines arrived on the scene in Manhattan after a ‘grease fire’ broke out in one of the studio’s kitchens
Tamron Hall stood in front of a black screen as she addressed the incident in a video posted on YouTube shortly after 11am
‘Well, it was so unusual,’ her co-host Sunny Hostin remarked as comedian Joy Behar joked: ‘Well, they had a lot of airtime to fill!’ before Ana Navarro admitted that she was on her way to the studio from the airport when the dramatic incident occurred.
‘I was coming in from the airport and it was the Hot Topics meeting so I pressed the Zoom link thinking I would find all of you on the Zoom, and it was dark, empty, an alarm and flashing lights and I thought, “holy hell”,’ Ana, 52, explained.
Alyssa Farah Griffin then piped up and made an epic dig at the show’s executive producer Brian Teta as she said: ‘It really made me understand my priorities because once I saw that all the hosts were fine, I was like, “where is my glam team?” Like leave Brian but as long as hair and makeup are safe!’
Joy then joked: “Yeah it’s very dangerous to see us on the street without hair and makeup!’ as Sunny added: ‘Wasn’t it!’ before admitting: ‘And I left my purse in my dressing room, but I grabbed my phone, very important.’
‘I grabbed my purse!’ Whoopi then said, before telling them: ‘As that happens, you snatch up your phone because that’s your ID, you always try to remember to take your things.’
She then added: ‘Tamron did not start the fire. We did not either,’ as Joy fired back: ‘Well, it was her kitchen!’ as Whoopi responded: ‘It was her kitchen but it doesn’t mean it was her being in it.’
Tamron, 53, addressed the incident in a video posted on her show’s official YouTube account and told fans: ‘I know things look a little different here, I am in fact live in front of a black screen because we have had something that’s never happened in the five seasons of the Tamron Hall Show and we are not able to air the show that was scheduled today.
Whoopi began Wednesday’s show by informing viewers of the drama and stressed: ‘We did not start the fire’
Joy Behar joked that it was ‘very dangerous’ for the hosts to be outside without any makeup on
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin admitted that the fire had made her ‘understand’ her ‘priorities’
Tamron thanked the firefighters who arrived on the scene to put out the flames
Members of the studio audience were filmed standing around outside the building
‘We had a grease fire in our kitchen,’ Tamron continued. ‘The entire staff, we were in place preparing for our live show, the audience was in the holding area of the show, preparing to come out here and cheer and have a phenomenal show today.
‘Our team reacted in incredible time. While the extinguishers were going off, the team that puts together all of our shows were in the back when this incident happened, everyone is safe, we were able to evacuate out of our studio and now we’re in the clean up phase of the show.’
Tamron promised viewers of the show that filming would resume on Thursday, but they were forced to air a repeat of Tuesday’s show on Wednesday.
Fans were quick to comment and share their well wishes as one person wrote: ‘Glad everyone is OK!! You have an AWESOME staff to get everyone out in record time!! Stay safe!!’
Another said: ‘I am glad that everyone is safe! A grease fire is one of the nastiest fires to have,’ and a third added: ‘I am so relieved that you all are safe!’