Top of the morning to you, sir! Beloved TV personality Michael Strahan addressed his exit from Live With Kelly and Michael on Wednesday, April 20, joking about how everybody reacted after ABC confirmed his transition to Good Morning America this September.
“Good morning, everyone! Today is Wednesday,” Strahan, 44, said to Live viewers. Noticeably absent was his chipper cohost Kelly Ripa, who was off for the day and replaced by Ana Gasteyer.
“I’ve been in the news lately,” Strahan continued with a smile. “A bit of news that I am leaving this show.” At that, the crowd booed. “And [I will go] to GMA full-time, which is going to happen in September. It is true. It is the same channel. I’m not going anywhere. I was reading some stuff and it sounded like I died! I was like, ‘It’s not a eulogy, people!'”
Strahan’s tone then turned sentimental. “But I do want to say to all of our viewers out there, everybody who’s watched this show over the last four years ago — which I’m sure they were surprised when they were like, ‘They chose that guy with the big gap in his teeth?'” he said. “But you still continue to give us your eyeballs and watch this show … um, thank you guys. I couldn’t have asked for better fans at all. You guys have been absolutely amazing and on top of that, I’ve worked with incredible staff here. I’m always here. I’m always available to guest cohost if I get a call, because I consider myself part of this family forever. I just want to say thank you to everybody out there. I love you too. And I’m not going anywhere!”
Indeed, he is not. “I look forward to continuing to work with the incredible team at GMA,” Strahan said in his statement to Us Weekly on Tuesday. “It is an exciting opportunity to be able to bring unique stories and voices to the audience.”
Strahan concluded his bit on Wednesday by giving a shout-out to his partner-in-crime Ripa. “I really want to thank of course Kelly Ripa because Kelly welcomed me here and I’ve learned so much from her,” he said. “She’s been an amazing influence on me and it has truly changed my life to be here with her. I know that the show will continue to be strong and great because of Kelly and Michael Gelman and the staff here. Everybody is so talented and this show has not been around for over 30 years by mistake … Kelly, I thank you and I love you and everyone else here at Live.”
Ripa recently celebrated her 15th anniversary on the show.
