Ripa demands Ryan off ‘GMA’
THE curse of Michael Strahan continues to haunt Kelly Ripa. Multiple sources revealed to “Page Six TV” on Wednesday that Ripa demanded her “Live” co-host Ryan Seacrest cancel an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” at the last minute.
“Ryan was scheduled to be on Wednesday’s show well in advance. He’s been on the show rundown for a week. Then, yesterday, or maybe even as late as last night, Kelly threw as--t fit and told him he couldn’t do ‘GMA,’ so he pulled his appearance,” a source told us.
Seacrest was supposed to appear on the show to promote ABC’s new “American Idol” season with judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and
Luke Bryan. But a source said that Seacrest pulled the plug in order not to upset Ripa — who famously had a meltdown when Strahan quit her show without warning in 2016.
“It’s very clear that Ryan wants to stay on her good side. She’s an executive producer on the show, so she has a lot of pull. It’s fair to say she has a lot of influence over him . . . It sounds like she still feels threatened,” the source said.
“There’s still bad blood with Kelly and Strahan, and she doesn’t want history to repeat itself and Ryan to be lured to ‘GMA,’ too,” the first source said. But “Kelly isn’t going to be reprimanded for this, as divalike as it is.”
Seacrest’s rep claimed the abrupt cancellation was due to his schedule: “We determined yesterday, along with ‘GMA’ as well as . . . producers and publicity teams, that [Seacrest’s] schedule was too tight . . . To suggest any other reason for him not participating is completely false or a misunderstanding of the facts,” his rep said.
Another insider added, “He was scheduled to be on ‘GMA’ last week, but all the contracts for the judges were not finalized, then he was scheduled to be on [Wednesday morning], but he would have had problems getting back to do his show. It’s sad they’re trying to create a division while Ryan and Kelly are kicking Megyn Kelly’s ass.”
A rep for Ripa insisted, “This story is absolutely not true,” but declined to comment further.