Michael Strahan’s role at “Good Morning America” is still ruffling feathers at the morning show. Sources claim fellow anchors on the show are sick of ABC bosses giving him preferential treatment.
“They roll out the carpet for [Strahan] while seasoned talent is treated like dirt. He’s been given a lot of opportunity, flexibility, when the others who have been working there longer don’t get that kind of treatment,” a source said.
Strahan signed a special deal that allows him to continue to analyze football at “Fox NFL Sunday” and host ABC’s “$100,000 Pyramid.” But he was forced to drop most of his lucrative endorsement deals when he joined the morning show.
Meanwhile, pop anchor Lara Spencer, “feels like her role has been minimized with Strahan. There’s not a lot of love between the two. They know how to put it on for the cameras, but he’s doing a lot of what Lara should be doing [on the show] and she’s not happy. She’s the pop person.”
Michael Strahan, Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Lara Spencer on “Good Morning America”Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC
We also hear that George Stephanopoulos is over it. “He’s bored with the fluff. He goes into work, does the show and leaves by 8:57 a.m. He doesn’t interact. He’s been phoning it in for quite some time,” the source said.
An ABC News exec insisted that Spencer has fully welcomed Strahan into the fold. “That’s just bulls - - t. They get along great. She loves having someone with his sense of humor on the show. Michael is lovely with the staff . . . And as for Lara, she has far more airtime in the 8 a.m. hour and is loving the studio audience.”
Plus, other stars are juggling just as many outside projects as Strahan.
“The idea that George is phoning it in is absurd. He gets to ‘GMA’ at, like, 3 in the morning. He works 16 hours a day,” the exec continued. “He goes home because he does all of the special reports in addition to ‘GMA,’ and he’s calling sources and getting ready for his Sunday show. He comes back to the office in the afternoon . . . And he’s incredibly engaged in the news coming out of DC right now.”
An ABC rep added: “We’ve tripled our lead over the ‘Today’ show [in total viewers]. The show has never been better.”