Michael Strahan announced his departure from Live! With Kelly and Michael in April and co-host, Kelly Ripa is still angry about it. How do we know it? Ask Kelly, she can’t contain her distaste for Michael’s decision and she most certainly is not afraid to express it.
I am humbled by the support of all the great fans, friends, staff, producers & crew. Unbelievable 4 years. Unbelievable morning. Thank you.
— Michael Strahan (@michaelstrahan) May 13, 2016
Ever since Strahan’s exit announcement, Kelly Ripa has been leaving no chance to diss her former co-host. Maybe it all has to do with Ripa not being informed due to which she did not show up to work for a few days following Michael departure. And didn’t she have a great reason to justify her actions,
"In a sense that it started a greater conversation about communication, consideration and, most importantly, respect in workplace," she explained. "And since we're being honest, I don't consider this just a workplace, this is my second home. This is a place that I devoted myself to, not just because of you our loyal viewers, but because of all of the producers and the crew who work on this show. We have an incredible team and we are devoted to one another. We are family."
Since the show is looking for a new co-host for Kelly, many anchors including the likes of Jimmy Kimmel and Anderson Cooper have hosted the show with Kelly as potential candidates. And all these times, Kelly has managed to diss Michael with almost all of them. In an on-air conversation with Jimmy Kimmel, when asked what she’d do with Michael’s photos in the hallway, she said they would be taken down! With Anderson Cooper, she expressed happiness over the fact that there were no Sagittarius around saying,
"Most good people that I know are Geminis, that's all I'm going to say. Listen to all the non-Geminis being unsupportive. They're like, 'Oh well, I'm a Sagittarius and I think I'm pretty good.'"
Kelly Ripa with her Sagittarius co-host, Michael Strahan. Source: E! Online
Apparently her clear disapproval over Michael’s exit was seen in the weeks leading to his final leave. So far Kelly has managed to dig out Michael’s failed marriages, accepted a hairy armadillo as her co-host, given Michael a major side eye, and what else? Yeah! Informally offered a journalism graduate in the audience to be her co-host.
So much fun with @KellyRipa on @LiveKelly this morning. Still trying to figure out what that hoop thing was all about!? I'm back tomorrow!
— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) June 1, 2016
So who will make it to being Kelly Ripa’s new host? Although Disney-ABC and CNN have some problem with it, seems like Anderson Cooper is the front-runner in this case. He has so far guest-hosted the show with Kelly more than once and Cooper and Ripa are very good friends off-screen. No wonder, their chemistry is so natural and wonderful! And despite having his own show and knowing that he’ll be very busy with the presidential election later this year, Cooper does seem pretty enthralled about the whole thing! So is Live! With Kelly and Anderson is what we should be expecting? We’ll get to know it once everything’s official.