It’s been a turbulent few months at the Disney-owned ABC News.
The news division has been rocked by a series of tragic deaths and public relations nightmares in recent weeks, with an extramarital affair by "GMA3" co-host Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes emerging as national tabloid fodder and "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg doubling down on past Holocaust remarks that had already gotten her suspended.
ABC News’ "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" executive producer Dax Tejera also died suddenly last month and his widow, Veronica Tejera, was arrested hours later and charged with child endangerment when it was revealed the couple left two young children unattended in a hotel room prior to his tragic death.
BARBARA WALTERS, JOURNALISTIC PIONEER, DEAD AT 93
The most publicized scandal involving ABC News talent is arguably the high-profile, marriage-wrecking affair by Holmes and Robach, who co-host "GMA3," a midday extension of the network’s flagship show "Good Morning America."
The lovebirds are sidelined pending an internal investigation as their infidelity continues to dominate industry gossip and tabloid news. But being pulled off the air hasn’t stopped Robach and Holmes from putting on public displays of affection, and the New York Post recently published video of them canoodling headlined, "T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach make out like teenagers on Miami vacation."
ABC insiders initially insisted that Holmes and Robach would not be disciplined for their affair, but the couple then appeared to downplay the scandal on air Dec. 2 while joking about having a "great week." By the following Monday, ABC News President Kim Godwin informed staffers the "distraction" had become too significant, and she pulled them off the air "while we figure this out."
Nearly a month later, they remain off the air. ABC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Until Robach became tabloid fodder, she was perhaps best known as the ABC News anchor caught on a hot mic claiming executives at the Disney-owned network refused to air a story that would have exposed the now-deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein three years before it was reported. ABC News downplayed the significance of the video at the time, telling Fox News Digital that the Epstein story wasn’t fit to air.
Goldberg has been another cause of headaches inside the Mouse House, as "The View" co-host showed little remorse for her past rhetoric that landed her in hot water.
Last year, Goldberg went viral when she argued that the Holocaust "isn't about race," stunning her colleagues at the table. The "Sister Act" star insisted estimated 6 million Jews who were systematically killed was more about "about man’s inhumanity to man" since Jewish people and Nazis are both "White groups of people."
ABC News suspended Goldberg for two weeks, but 10 months later she appeared to double down in an interview with the British outlet The Sunday Times. Goldberg also claimed that the Nazis targeted people of African descent in addition to Jews because they were physically different, and Goldberg went as far as to suggest that Jews had an easier time blending in with White people and hiding from the Nazis than Black people did at the time of the Holocaust.
"You could not tell a Jew on a street. You could find me. You couldn’t find them. That was the point I was making," Goldberg said. "But you would have thought that I’d taken a big old stinky dump on the table, butt naked."
Despite her defiance, she apologized again when her comments drew bipartisan outrage.
As for Tejera, the 37-year-old producer and family man dying suddenly of a heart attack is a tragedy, not a scandal. However, another ABC News-related tabloid nightmare has surfaced with news that his wife was arrested after the couple left their two children -- who are five months and two years old – unattended in a New York City hotel room the night he collapsed outside a posh steakhouse.
"We had two cameras trained on my children as they slept, and I monitored them closely in the time I was away from them. While the girls were unharmed, I realize that it was a poor decision," Tejera told the New York Post.
She is due in Manhattan Criminal Court on January 12, according to the Post.
DISNEY SELLING ABC NEWS’ LONGTIME HEADQUARTERS AS TROUBLE LOOMS FOR EMBATTLED TV STARS, JOURNALISTS
Amidst the drama gripping the network, ABC News legend Barbara Walters died last week at age 93. An ABC News insider believes old footage of Walters used in tribute montages puts a spotlight on how badly the network has fallen in recent years.
"Barbara Walters’ passing is a reminder that ABC News, believe it or not, was once the gold standard of TV news. Sadly, it’s now largely irrelevant and consumed by sordid scandals involving its talent. What remains now of what made ABC News great? Only Diane Sawyer, and she’s 77 and barely on the air anymore," the insider told Fox News Digital.
In 2014, ABC News dedicated its headquarters to Walters, naming the 47 West 66th Street landmark the "The Barbara Walters Building" in her honor with a glitzy ceremony helmed by Disney CEO Bob Iger. In another sign that things have dramatically changed over the last few years, the building has since been sold and is expected to be demolished and turned into luxury condos.
ABC News famed "murderer’s row" of superstar talent, assembled by the late Roone Arledge, is gone. Walters, Peter Jennings and David Brinkley are deceased. Ted Koppel departed in 2005 after disagreements with Disney about "Nightline’s" future. Diane Sawyer, once ABC News’ biggest star, has been largely marginalized after years of strained relations with ABC brass and the 77-year-old now contributes just a few hours of TV a year.
The current group of George Stephanopoulos, David Muir, Michael Strahan and Robin Roberts are respected in the industry, but they have been overshadowed by the likes of Robach, Holmes and Goldberg in recent weeks.
Fox News’ Yael Halon contributed to this report.
