Why was Whoopi Goldberg forced to miss The View?

Whoopi Goldberg, a mainstay of the daytime talk show The View, was noticeably absent in the episode right after the Fourth of July.

Turned out the host was trapped during an overseas trip.

Joy Behar, who was replacing the host, joked, “Whoopi is using the old volcano excuse.”

She referred to Goldberg's visit to Sicily, Italy. However, she was stuck after Mount Etna erupted.

Europe's largest active volcano eruption, in turn, shut down airports.

A video by Goldberg was played on The View.

“I am in Sicily right now, and Mount Etna, which is one of our active volcanoes here in Italy, decided to go off today."

“We have spent most of the day trying to get back to the United States, and all of the airports are closed here. So I will be back as soon as I can.”

She added, “I know that we got all kinds of stories about our different vacations."

The actress, who won an Academy Award, quipped, "Well, I think my story just takes the cake. A volcano ate my homework!”

But notably Goldberg was not the only absentee from the show. Ana Navarro and Sara Haines were other panelists, who has similar personal reasons for skipping the show.