Michael Strahan Comments On Live With Kelly Controversy

A few months have passed since Michael Strahan's hasty exit from Live with Kelly and Michael, and Michael Strahan is finally speaking up. In the October 3 issue of People Magazine, the former Giants player says, "I don't want people to see me as 'Oh, he just ran out, just left them there.' That's just not true." For those unaware of the morning show turmoil, a brief summary: Michael Strahan replaced Regis Philbin on Ripa's morning talk show. And for nearly four years, it looked like Kelly and Michael were the next big duo to takeover morning television. Live with Kelly and Michael won Daytime Emmys in both 2015 and 2016 for Outstanding Talk Show Hosts. Broader horizons beckoned for Strahan, however, in the form of Good Morning America. The network announced his departure in April and shortly after, it became clear that Kelly Ripa had not been informed. She has since aired her displeasure regarding the way the situation was handled. In short, Strahan left ahead of his originally planned September departure and Ripa was the last to find out. She felt blindsided. Ripa had her People Magazine cover, and now it's time for Strahan's rebuttal. He admits that he and Ripa "didn't really communicate" during the final months of his time on the show. "It was what it was," he says. So, it's "just not true" that he ran out? Or it's "just not true" that he's a bad guy? Or was the situation just "what it was"? Strahan's equivocations do little to enlighten the situation. From what I can understand of the mishap, there was a miscommunication and someone got angry. These things happen in offices all the time. In fact, most work drama is the result of an unsent e-mail. It just so happens that this particular work drama unfolded on live television. (Ripa boycotted the show the morning after the announcement.) As of now, Ripa is enjoying a revolving door of entertainment royalty on her show and Strahan made his first appearance on GMA in May. Strahan implies that the two no longer talk. "At one point I think we were friends," he says. Pro tip: if you have to use that many modifiers to describe a friendship, it probably wasn't much of a friendship. (E! Online)