(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) George Stephanopoulos may soon lose his high-paying position as an ABC News host after the network was forced to pay President-elect Donald Trump millions due to defamatory claims made live on air earlier this year.
Earlier this week, Disney, the parent company of ABC News, agreed to pay Trump $15 million. The payment stemmed from Stephanopoulos falsely claiming that Trump had been found liable for the ‘rape’ of E. Jean Carroll.
According to Variety, ABC may not renew Stephanopoulos’s contract, which is set to expire in 2025. He currently earns a reported $18 million as the anchor of This Week and Good Morning America.
However, sources said they “aren’t sure if he will stay at the network given the recent turn of events.”
As reported by Variety: “Sources say Stephanopoulos has been vocal about how unhappy he has been with the settlement and apology. For ABC, the economics of paying an anchor $18 million a year may not make sense as ‘GMA’ isn’t the advertising cash cow it once was.”
Stephanopoulos’s downfall began during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-N.C., when he pressed her about her endorsement of Trump. He repeatedly described Trump as being liable for “rape,” a false accusation he made ten times throughout the interview.
“You’ve endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape,” Stephanopoulos said during the Mace interview.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos was repeatedly warned not to use word ‘rape’ by producer — but said it anyway: sources https://t.co/d9x1iKq1c2 pic.twitter.com/AvfRFfJmGZ
— New York Post (@nypost) December 19, 2024
Trump responded quickly with legal action against Stephanopoulos and ABC News. While the network attempted to dismiss the case on the grounds of fair reporting protection, a federal judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
Both Stephanopoulos and Trump were ordered to appear for depositions. However, ABC News chose to settle with Trump’s attorneys, avoiding a costly and humiliating trial.
In addition to the $15 million payment, ABC News agreed to pay Trump $1 million in attorney fees and published an apology in a news report about the March interview with Mace.
