In a surprise move, ABC News has rewarded its anchor George Stephanopoulos with a new contract at the network.
The Los Angeles Times were the first to report that Stephanopoulos, 63, recently agreed to a “new multi-year contract to remain with the ABC News morning program, according to several people familiar with matter who were not authorized to comment publicly.”
No further details were provided about the terms of the contract, such as its length or the size of his pay package.
The Good Morning America host, who rose to political fame as a henchman of former President Bill Clinton, was sued by Donald Trump earlier this year after repeatedly claiming that he was “found liable for rape” by a Manhattan jury.
His statements were a reference to complaints made by a woman named E. Jean Carroll, who has alleged Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s. She has never provided any evidence for her claims.
The deal, which has not been formally announced, will put an end to speculation that Stephanopoulos may be axed by the network after he was the subject of a humiliating libel loss in which its parent company Disney agreed to pay out $15 million and $1 million to cover Trump’s legal fees.
However, this settlement caused fractures within the newsroom, as the Times reports:
Journalists at ABC were disheartened that the news division and Stephanopoulos agreed to apologize to Trump and that the company was unwilling to fight the suit in court.
The decision — a preview of the challenges of covering a new Trump Administration — added to the dread already felt among the rank and file who are already bracing for cost-cutting in the new year, according to one insider not authorized to comment publicly.
But any concerns at Disney about the negative reaction to the settlement took a back seat to the fragile state of “Good Morning America,” which has fallen behind NBC’s “Today” in the Nielsen ratings.
Stephanopoulos — who is said to earn in the range of $20 million annually — has long provided nutritious news calories to the breezy morning program that he co-hosts with Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan.
The network has no apparent successor to Stephanopoulos, who joined “Good Morning America” in 2009. A change in the host chairs can be disruptive to morning audience viewing habits, which are deeply entrenched.
Yet according to a report from The New York Post, Stephanopoulos was “apoplectic” and “humiliated” by the agreement and was particularly upset about being forced to apologize to the incoming president.
“ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s ‘This Week’ on March 10, 2024,” the statement had read.
