Kelly Ripa, the co-host of “Live with Kelly and Michael,” received a personal apology from executives at ABC and Disney over last week’s botched announcement that co-host Michael Strahan will be leaving the program this year.
The execs also apologized to Strahan as well as agents who represent both of them, CNN Money reported.
Ripa is slated to return to the show on Tuesday, it was also announced Monday.
The executives “expressed regret for the way Kelly was told the news,” a source told CNN.
Ben Sherwood, the president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, and his team apologized to Ripa and Strahan. ABC stations president Rebecca Campbell and ABC News president James Goldston also issued apologies.
Strahan is going to move on from “Live” to “Good Morning America,” another ABC program. He already has a part-time role on “GMA.”
Another source said the team “misfired” in their handling of the situation. “We had a plan which obviously did not go as planned,” one told CNN.
For the last week, Ripa skipped work, drawing speculation that she may have quit the show. Producers were forced to find fill-in hosts. Erin Andrews and Shay Mitchell filled in for her through Monday. She also sent an email to staffers that said, “I wanted to thank you all for giving me the time to process this new information. Your kindness, support, and love has overwhelmed me. We are a family and I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday morning.”
Meanwhile, morning show veteran Katie Couric gave her own insight to E! News about the incident.
“My feeling is they‘ll work it out,” she told E! on Monday. “I think Kelly, obviously, should be included in any kind of massive transition like that. Hopefully she’ll move forward and Michael will move forward and it will all work out. Yes, it’s been quite a brouhaha,” she added, noting that she doesn’t know the full situation.”
