George Stephanopoulos, the Good Morning America co-host who was recently on the losing end of a $15 million settlement agreement between Walt Disney Co. and President-elect Donald Trump, has signed a new multi-year contract with ABC News, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Exact details of the network’s deal with Stephanopoulos—who earns somewhere close to $20 million annually—remain unclear.
On Dec. 15, Trump and ABC News reached the settlement agreement in a defamation lawsuit the president-elect filed against the outlet after Stephanopoulos inaccurately said that he was found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll in the ’90s.
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“Donald Trump has been found liable for rape by a jury,” Stephanopoulos repeatedly told Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) during a This Week interview on March 10. Trump’s suit said Stephanopoulos defamed him as the jury found him liable for sexual abuse, not rape.
ABC News ultimately agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library and $1 million in legal fees. The Times reported that Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger approved the agreement, citing sources close to the deal.
An ABC News representative declined the Los Angeles Times’ request for comment on Stephanopoulos’ reported new deal.
Any issues executives may have had with his Trump-related blunder seemingly fell by the wayside thanks to falling ratings at Good Morning America—which recently fell behind NBC’s Today, the Times noted.
A TV insider previously told the Daily Beast that Disney’s decision to settle the suit makes sense.
“Would I rather apologize and have somebody pay the $15 million, or go through discovery for two years and every text and email end up on the front page of the Daily Mail?”
“I’d say, for most broadcast journalists, that’s an easy decision,” they continued.
