Producer: Whoopi omission an oversight

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The producer of Sunday's Academy Awards telecast in Los Angeles said Whoopi Goldberg was not intentionally left out of a montage featuring past Oscar hosts.

Goldberg, an Oscar-winning actress who was also the first African-American woman to preside over an Oscars ceremony, was absent from a clip segment showing past hosts.

Her co-stars on the TV chat show "The View" Monday rallied around her and criticized those behind the awards show for excluding her from the montage.

Goldberg appeared upset and kissed each of her fellow panelists on the cheek to thank them for their support on the air Monday.

Academy Awards telecast producer Gil Cates told People.com Tuesday the omission was "an absolute oversight."

"No harm was intended, and I feel very, very badly that she was left out," Cates told the magazine. "I'm going to call her and tell her that." Cates also said the clip segment in question was "supposed to be a montage of 80 exciting moments of the Academy Awards."

"Basically, that was not a montage about hosts," Cates noted, adding former host Steve Martin didn't appear in the montage either.