Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Is Whoopi Goldberg actually the 2019 Oscars host?

Just four days before the 2019 Oscars, social media is abuzz with speculation that “The View’s” Whoopi Goldberg has secretly been tapped to emcee the (currently hostless) broadcast.

Goldberg has been missing from “The View” for the past several weeks, due to an alleged battle with pneumonia. But alternative theories have since cropped up on Twitter, with several users suggesting that Goldberg is actually in Los Angelesto prepare for the Feb. 24 ceremony.

An ABC spokesperson, however, tells TVLine that the rumor is “absolutely false.”

“The View” co-host Joy Behar kicked off Wednesday’s show by addressing the “conspiracy theories on the internet” that Goldberg will host the Oscars. After joking that Goldberg is actually away “on maternity leave,” Behar reiterated that her colleague is indeed recovering from pneumonia and that “she’s not even well enough to host this show, much less the Oscars.”

Of course, if Goldberg did show up as the Oscars’ surprise host, it wouldn’t be her first rodeo. An Oscar winner herself for “Ghost” in 1990,Goldberg has previously emceed the ceremony four times, most recently in 2002.