Hey, they aren’t saying no!
With Michael Strahan scheduled to leave Live! on May 13*, two of the ex-football star’s rumored replacements were asked on Thursday about taking over the gig and sitting alongside Kelly Ripa every morning.
(*Unless producers move up his departure date once again.)
We’ll start with Anderson Cooper.
A very good friend of Ripa’s and supposedly one of her two ideal choices for the job, Cooper is busy these days at CNN, of course.
And he’ll get even busier once the 2016 Presidential election officially comes down to Donald Trump versus Kelly Ripa.
“Listen, I love Kelly, and Kelly is the heart and soul of that show,” Cooper told Cohen on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live last night, adding:
“It’s gonna go on and continue to be great and I wish Michael the best in his new endeavor.”
Okay, cool. Great. Nice response.
Now… can we get an actual response to the question please?
“It would be a dream to work with Kelly but nobody’s offering anything,” Cooper finally said.
It’s hard to interpret that in any other way except for: if you offer me the job, I’ll take it… right?
Cooper, meanwhile, appears to have competition from Mario Lopez.
This television personality was a guest of Ellen DeGeneres and the topic of Ripa’s new co-host was broached with him as well.
“That’s very flattering. Very flattering. You’re so nice,” Lopez responded when DeGeneres said she’d heard rumor that he’s in the running.
“I know, people were saying that. I love Kelly. I’ve guest hosted with her a few times she’s awesome. I actually did a movie with her husband Marc who’s a real good guy.”
Again… answer the question please!
Lopez confirmed he’ll at least serve as a guest host of the supposedly demanding diva and then said the following when Ellen asked straight up if he might be the permanent replacement:
“Well, I got to go over everything with Mrs. Lopez. She’s the real boss of the house so we’ll see what she has to say about that.”
Would you want to see either Lopez or Cooper as Kelly’s co-host?
Sources say ABC may wait all summer before they announce an official replacement.
So we’ve got plenty of time to speculate!