Photo: Getty Images; Photo Illustration: Dillen Phelps
Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes are joining the likes of Olivia Wilde and John Mulaney in the group of celebrities whose careers were recently affected by cheating scandals. But this one hits a bit different. Rather than suffering backlash in the form of scathing tweets, TikToks, and Instagram comments from those entwined in parasocial relationships (one-sided bonds forged between a fan and their object of affection) with the new couple, Robach and Holmes have been taken off the air by Disney’s morality police. And for what? For being two, easy breezy hot (and yes, adulterous) people who couldn’t keep their hands off each other and got lazy covering their tracks?
The two Good Morning America anchors had their affair exposed by The Daily Mail on Nov. 30, which has reportedly sent ABC executives in a tizzy. Robach was absent from the same-day broadcast, but returned on Dec. 1 to take her seat next to Holmes and their third anchor, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, with no mention of the surrounding drama.
The situation changed yesterday, Monday Dec. 5, when TMZ reported that both anchors were “taken off-air” and would be replaced by two other correspondents; when it came time for the show to air, that was indeed the case. The outlet reports that ABC President Kim Godwin stated that Robach and Holmes didn’t violate company policy, but their absence was deemed what’s “best for the ABC News organization.”
She continued by lecturing her employees, saying they need to stop the “whispering in the hallways” because the “gossip, and speculation and rumors” was affecting operations.
There’s so much to unpack here, but the biggest points are: Given that Robach and Holmes didn’t break any policies at the network, why are they being treated as rule-breakers? And why are they being blamed for ABC’s faulty work environment? If a cheating scandal – centering around a personal relationship – which has boosted interest in the show, both through ratings and word of mouth, was able to affect the operations at ABC News, shouldn’t that reflect poorly on the network and not the individuals?
Seems like a few things got lost in translation.
Operated under the “family-friendly” company Disney, ABC’s Good Morning America franchise has faced their fair share of changes over the last few years. Robach and Holmes’ show (GMA3) only came to existence in September 2020 following the pandemic-caused cancellation of the previous program, which functioned under the same name, but was hosted by Keke Palmer, Michael Strahan, and Sara Haines. Since its inception, the show was liked but not well-liked, but viewership has spiked in the days since their co-anchors’ affair was revealed. On November 17 and 18, the show drew 1.497 million total viewers and 1.544 million total viewers, respectively, whereas the viewership lept to 1.91 million on the day (November 30) following the revelation story, per TMZ.
That’s good, right? As one Twitter user put it, “The thing that concerns me the most about the TJ Holmes/Amy Robach scandal is that apparently I’m the only one who had never heard of TJ Holmes or Amy Robach” – well, you do now, kid!
The ratings jump was apparently not good enough for Kim Godwin, nor newly-installed Disney CEO Bob Iger, who recently returned to the Mouse House after a brief one-year retirement and Bob Chapek’s ill-fated run.
Many boasted that with Iger’s return, Disney and the companies under its parent label would return to a sense of normalcy and stability; however nobody seems to be able to decipher what that actually means.
Over the years, Iger has been caught in the middle of a few culture wars, with some praising him for his progressive ideologies – like straight-to-streaming releases and his clashes with Georgia and Florida for criticizing states that back anti-women and anti-LGBT+ rulings – while others put him on blast for creating content that’s “too woke”.
He toed the same line in his speech upon his return, saying that “inclusion” is valued by the company but Disney also needs to “listen to its audience”. While there has been no confirmed correlation between Iger and ABC’s treatment of the cheating co-anchors, it is shaping up to be his first big misfire since his return – one that will corral conservatives to his side.
The decision to temporarily unseat Holmes and Robach, two colleagues who had equal power in the company, from their on-air positions for having a consensual relationship outside their workplace – and we know they were outside as The Daily Mail has a ton of photos of them at NYC bars, local shops, and an upstate cottage – shows that the network is more concerned with upholding puritan values than raising viewership.
Others state that keeping the anchors on air would violate “moral clauses” and the brand’s “family orientated programming” – the latter of which chooses to ignore that most news streams feature a constant cycle of Hollywood scandals, health crises, and the booming recession (many of which were recently featured on the talk show) and the lunchtime scheduling of the Monday through Friday show, all of which establishes the show’s “this is for adults” messaging.
It seems as though when there are scandals such as this one catching wind, there are two ways for spectators to engage, one is to follow along as an outsider – soaking in the second-hand embarrassment – and the other is to respond with the intent to control and change. The options are similar for studio executives: ignore it and let it fade away or clutch onto the wavering control you have left.
But not all situations are as cut-and-dried, or garner the attention they require. Look at Matt Lauer, who was terminated from his long-standing job as an anchor on The Today Show after multiple accounts of sexual misconduct. Years before his disgraceful and involuntary exit from NBC for “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace,” he was merely branded a “ladies’ man” by colleagues poking fun at him for hooking up with his female staff. These same colleagues got away with feigning innocence when the real accusations were brought to light. ABC’s handling of Robach and Holmes’ affair erases the nuance between these situations (a consensual relationship between equals vs a gross misuse of power) and choses the fail-safe option of supporting an unhealthy narrative that obsesses over orthodox families and women.
The network’s jump to put an end to the gossip is a wet blanket on the already-dying celebrity culture, which now churns out endless (and entirely not-fun!) scandals surrounding politics and human rights and such, rather than letting hot people do what hot people do best: getting laid and being messy. It seems to be a “mountain out of a molehill” situation that all boils down to: can you really fire someone for cheating? Especially when the ratings are this good?