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Longtime friends Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal got emotional on Wednesday’s episode of The View, where they sat at the Hot Topics table to recall warm memories of their late companion Robin Williams.
Crystal appeared on the talk show alongside Goldberg, whom he’s been close with for decades after they worked together with Williams to host the Comic Relief charity event throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Cohost Sara Haines also brought up Crystal’s 50-year career as an entertainer, which reached a monumental achievement in December 2023 when he was named a Kennedy Center honoree, with Goldberg speaking at the ceremony.
ABC
“It meant a tremendous amount. When you’re chosen for your work, it’s not a competition, a very distinguished board looks at your life’s work. I was incredibly honored,” Crystal remembered. “You don’t know who’s going to come to do your presentation at the hall. It was Rob Reiner, Mr. [Robert] De Niro, Marc Shaiman, and then Whoopi walked out and it just sealed the deal for me.”
The View then played a clip of Goldberg acknowledging “the person who also should be standing here” with her to honor Crystal: “Our brother, Robin.”
When the show cut back to the studio, Goldberg had tears in her eyes as she looked over toward Crystal.
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“We’ve been through so much together, that when you came out and put your arm out like we did after he left us, that just made it all just so personal, you know?” Crystal asked, referencing Williams’ death in August 2014. “He was on my mind from the time we got to Washington, because of all of our memories there, the first time we went for Comic Relief back in ’86, it was very special stuff.”
Comic Relief was founded by Richard Curtis and Sir Lenny Henry to raise awareness about famine and poverty, and has thus far raised $436 million for the cause, according to its website.
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.
