Robach has been the visible face of “GMA3” since March 2020, when it became a COVID-focused news hour co-hosted by Dr. Jennifer Ashton. Holmes was added as a co-host in September when the title was changed to “GMA3: What You Need to Know.” But that all came crashing down with the revelation of the actual romance between Robach and Holmes – both quietly estranged from their respective spouses and deleting their Instagram accounts. (None commented on the situation.)
Since the pair’s suspension from “GMA3,” the network has rotated guest co-hosts, first Stephanie Ramos and Gio Benitez, then DeMarco Morgan and Rhiannon Ally — with early indications that ratings are continuing at pre- scandal (more on this). later). Here’s a look at what could happen next.
How long will Holmes and Robach be off the air?
It’s an open question. In a Dec. 12 memo to staffers, ABC News President Kim Godwin said the two would stay off the air while executives conduct an “internal review,” CNN reported.
Even in their absence, Robach and Holmes are still mentioned in the show’s intro, which airs weekdays at 1 p.m. ET. Last week, Morgan and Ally made a point of saying they were “replacing” the scandal-plagued regular hosts.
And, as of press time, Robach and Holmes are still featured on GMA3’s official Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, as well as the show’s official website.
The show is set to use guest hosts through the end of 2022 — even Ashton shared on air and on Instagram on December 21. The 16th would be his last day of the year before taking vacation time off. But ABC reps have no comment on Robach or Holmes’ whereabouts on the network or “GMA3’s” plans in the new year.
Is ABC News right to fire them?
Although Godwin initially said the “relationship is not a violation of company policy,” that doesn’t rule out other possible contract violations that could allow the network to get rid of Robach and/or Holmes.
ABC’s moral clause, which has been cited in previous firings and also cited by The Sun and Puck, prohibits anything which brings “public discredit, contempt, scandal or ridicule, or which might tend to reflect unfavorably” on the network. ABC News has not confirmed the language specific to TheWrap.
ABC’s parent company, Disney, has always been more averse to scandals that could tarnish its family reputation. Disney needs to step in and act here. We are a family network and these two don’t display family values or Disney values,” an anonymous ABC News insider told the Daily Mail earlier this month.
A “just cause” dismissal could also stem from another type of violation of their contact. An insider told TMZ earlier this month that violations could include “using company resources, like vehicles or drivers, to meet romantically…or pressuring staff to maintain the relationship on the DL”.
Additionally, either host could be fired “without cause,” though that would likely force ABC to pay their current contracts.
“The bottom line is [ABC News] can do whatever they want,” Amory McAndrew, a partner at Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney LLP in New York, told Indiewire recently. “They’re probably going to have to pay for it,” he said, referring to a pre-agreed payment that would be triggered by a “no cause” termination. “They might say, ‘You didn’t violate a policy, but we just want you out of here. “”
Has ABC ever fired anyone for violating a moral clause?
In 2020, ABC’s senior vice president Barbara Fedida left the company after an internal review confirmed she made “unacceptable racist comments” about the “Good Morning America” anchor. Robin Roberts and “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin and “The Occasion.” , used foul and inappropriate language,” wrote Peter Rice, president of Walt Disney Television in a note shared with staffers.
When ‘All My Children’ soap star Michael Nader was fired from the ABC soap opera ‘All My Children’ after being arrested for selling cocaine in 2001, ABC News specifically cited that he had “broken the moral clause of his contract,” according to court documents.
And other news executives and on-air stars have been fired in recent years, including morning hosts Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose following accusations of sexual misconduct at NBC and CBS, respectively. Additionally, CNN boss Jeff Zucker was forced to resign earlier this year after failing to disclose a consensual romantic relationship with one of his top aides.
Could they really be fired for having an affair in 2022?
Many industry watchers are stomped by the network’s reaction to the public disclosure of the Robach and Holmes affair.
Dr. Sheri Meyers, a licensed marriage and family therapist and author of “Chatting or Cheating,” said what happened with Holmes and Robach was really their business. “It used to be private, but now it’s a public forum for everyone to talk about. It’s almost like we’re all involved and we’re all judging,” she said. Yes, it’s prevalent, and we all have it [a certain] feeling of cheating. If they were just two single people who fell in love at work, [that would be a] any other story. When you cheat on your partner, you cheat on your family, that’s different.
The fact that they host a morning show, which often focuses on the families and personal lives of the presenters, makes the situation even trickier, according to Pallavi Kumar, a crisis public relations expert and senior lecturer at American University. School of Communication. “People equate morning show hosts with family, so they get more scrutiny than most news anchors,” she told TheWrap.
And many believe the network is unlikely to impose different punishments on Holmes, who is black, and Robach, who is white, regardless of reports of Holmes’ past behavior with other staffers at the network. “You have an African American male and you have a female, and both are protected classes,” Frons noted.
“From the outside, it’s hard to see why it would upset the news division so much,” Frons said. “It’s not like they lied on air about stories about where they were,” he said, referring to Brian Williams’ six-month suspension from NBC News in 2015 after a story he told about surviving a rocket attack in Iraq turned out to be false. “The consensus among my former peers was, ‘Why did they take them off the air? Sounds like a good audience opportunity,” he said.
Frons suspects the network could buy time to see how the scandal unfolds, noting that Whoopi Goldberg returned to “The View” earlier this year after a two-week suspension when she was criticized for saying the Holocaust was “not on the run.”
“Maybe [ABC] not gonna say anything and just hope it blows up like the Whoopi Goldberg thing,” he said. When Goldberg was suspended, however, there was no doubt she would return or how long she would be away.
How will “GMA3” scores be taken into account in the decision?
The third hour of “Good Morning America” has consistently been the lowest-rated “GMA” segment since its launch in 2018. The show peaked in its current eyelet in 2020, when it averaged 1, 9 million viewers, against 1.5 million the year. before. In 2021, the average is back to pre-pandemic levels with 1.5 million, according to Nielsen.
Despite the slippage, “GMA3” has consistently beaten rivals “NBC News Daily” and CBS’s “The Talk” and leads in total viewership. For the week of November. On the 28th, the show attracted an average of 1.68 million viewers. The number of viewers soared to 1.8 million on Thursday, December 12. 1, the day after the Daily Mail exposed their romance – the two were benched the following Monday.
For the first full week without Robach and Holmes, viewership returned to an average of 1.65 million — an early, tentative sign that the show could continue to perform without its tabloid co-hosts.
“It’s all about the ratings,” said Kumar, who predicted the now-IRL couple would return in the new year. “If it’s a highly rated show, which it is, the network will find a way to ‘forgive’ them and get them back on the air.”
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