Despite a staggering $16 million loss in the defamation lawsuit with President-elect Donald Trump, ABC News signed a new deal with anchor George Stephanopoulos.
“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,” the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.
“The network has no apparent successor to Stephanopoulos, who joined ‘Good Morning America’ in 2009,” the outlet added, noting that the longtime anchor who cost the network millions in the Trump case “is said to earn in the range of $20 million annually.”
The contract news came after much speculation about whether he would remain at ABC News following the defamation case settlement which, according to Variety, left Stephanopolous feeling “blindsided” and “unhappy” with the result. The anchor had repeatedly said in a March segment that Trump was found “liable for rape,” despite the jury in the E. Jean Carroll civil case finding him to be liable for “sexual abuse.”
Stephanopoulos was reportedly told by his executive producer multiple times not to “use the word rape” before he went on air.
“‘This Week’ producer said ‘don’t use the word rape’ before the segment started,” a source at the network told the New York Post. “The EP [executive producer] said it so many times.”
Another source confirmed to the outlet in a text that Stephanopoulos was forewarned “not to say rape.”
A new report reveals that Disney decided to settle the defamation case with Trump to avoid a jury trial in Florida and to protect their brand.
The New York Times cited “three people inside the company with knowledge of the discussions” who wished to remain anonymous in its report Wednesday that pursuing the case rather than settling would open the company up to a jury trial in the deep-red state of Florida. The company was reportedly concerned that the jury “would side with the president-elect and potentially award him a sizable sum exceeding what it would cost to settle.”
The settlement ended with ABC News agreeing to donate $15 million to Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum and having the network and its anchor George Stephanopoulos say they “regret” remarks made on air about the civil case against the former and future president. Trump will also receive an additional $1 million from the network to cover his legal fees.
