While The View has featured much squabbling and in-fighting among its various hosts over the past 26 years, the women at the helm of the morning show could all agree on at least one thing as of late: nobody who’s taken the stage in recent months has been guilty of passing gas on the air, regardless of whatever fart-tethered accusations get bandied about among the fanbase. And while it hasn’t been directly addressed during any episodes, the team behind the ABC stalwart has indeed figured out a way to fend off flatulent attributions.
Following the most recent example of such an incident, which happened on the episode that aired March 21, Whoopi Goldberg made a point to try and squash any viewer beliefs that she or one of her co-hosts went toot-toot, blaming the unidentified noise on their coffee mugs. Not that the dishes themselves were farting — though how amazingly baffling would that excuse have been? — but that the mugs’ bottoms were scraping the surface of the glass table in just such a distinctly audible way.
So how have the show’s producers fixed the definitely-not-a-fart noises? Not with the Mythbusters’ non-patented fart-catcher, but with a product that’s particularly perfect for the job: coasters. As viewers may or may not have noticed in the days after the most recent fart-dodging defense, The View’s hosts are now putting their signature blue coffee mugs atop white coasters, which have (at least for now) put a stop to strange and random noises as convos are happening.
Check out a shot from one of this week’s episodes, and note the coasters resting beneath Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farrah Griffin’s respective mugs.
According to EW, a director for the show was inclined to test how the mugs looked while sitting on the white coasters. And it would appear the aesthetic was enough of a winner that those coasters stuck around since first being added in the March 24 telecast.
Some of the fart-fueled attention first kicked off back in January, where a mysterious spill left part of the table covered in water, which led to a suspicious raspberry sound or two that weren’t addressed in full. And one might imagine the hosts heard quite a few comments from fans about it, considering how quickly Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and others were to shut down fart accusations after Sara Haines’ mug sounded off, with the Star Trek vet saying:
Yes, because, we get blamed for dropping gas, when in fact it’s a cup.
To be fair, farting noises aren’t exactly the biggest topic of criticism that The View’s hosts have faced of late. A week ahead of the muggy mayhem, Whoopi Goldberg casually used an ethnic slur during a segment, and apologized for it both on the episode and then again after the fact. Joy Behar was the subject of some critical scrutiny from past guest Liam Neeson, who voiced his discomfort in Behar’s overtly flirty behavior and comments.
Now that they’ve figured out how to avoid being needlessly blamed for potentially gassy audio on The View, maybe other shows that have been plagued by similar situations. For instance, Monday Night Football has been the home of various on-air farts, both real and denied, as have various cable news broadcasts. But I don’t see anybody wrestling the crown away from the queen herself, Wendy Williams, who pulled off a fart-and-burp combo to last the ages.
