Speaker 1: Just before we put our jackets on to walk out
Speaker 1: the door to come to the studio to record this
Speaker 1: episode of the podcast, roboc and I received all warning
Speaker 1: that we should not record this episode of the podcast.
Speaker 1: So welcome everybody to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 1: Robes Sitting next to me, it has been a hell
Speaker 1: of a few days for a bunch of reasons, and
Speaker 1: a bunch of messages and reporters and phone calls and
Speaker 1: things have been coming our way for news that a
Speaker 1: lot of people expected that finally came.
Speaker 2: That's right, Kim Godwin, president of ABC News, has announced
Speaker 2: that she is leaving not only ABC News but the
Speaker 2: entire broadcast television industry. And she announced that late last night,
Speaker 2: and as you might imagine, text kept coming our way.
Speaker 2: It's interesting because I think maybe many of you, and
Speaker 2: certainly some of my friends and family expected me or
Speaker 2: us to feel some sort of vindication or that we
Speaker 2: felt like justice was served now that Kim Godwin is gone.
Speaker 2: But that is not the case. And I want to
Speaker 2: make that very very clear. I didn't and we didn't
Speaker 2: feel any of those things. I would say the best
Speaker 2: way to describe how I feel is sad. It's sad
Speaker 2: when someone loses their job. It's sad when someone leaves
Speaker 2: a profession they love for whatever reason. And given all
Speaker 2: that we've been through, it's just sad that this is
Speaker 2: how the story ended. None of us wanted things to
Speaker 2: go the way they did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and folks who are maybe getting caught up a
Speaker 1: little bit, maybe, but the news is out there. Kim
Speaker 1: Godwin is out as the president of ABC News. She
Speaker 1: stepped down, like you said. She says she's retiring from
Speaker 1: the industry. But I guess the writing was on the
Speaker 1: wall for the past several weeks if you were reading
Speaker 1: anything out there, some reports, But also we have obviously
Speaker 1: we have insight, and we have friends in the building,
Speaker 1: and we've been hearing a whole lot about what's going
Speaker 1: on there for the past year and a half and
Speaker 1: how people felt about what was going on. So the
Speaker 1: fact that she was leaving didn't come as a surprise
Speaker 1: to us. In fact, when we left in February of
Speaker 1: twenty and twenty three, when we left the network, if
Speaker 1: we were betting folks, it was only a matter of
Speaker 1: when she was going to leave, and maybe not even
Speaker 1: how she was going to leave. We were talking about
Speaker 1: this the other day with someone. Nobody necessarily leaves pretty
Speaker 1: when they leave that network, so it didn't come as
Speaker 1: a surprise to us. But this is a for us.
Speaker 1: This was the person who made the phone call at
Speaker 1: six am on December fifth, twenty twenty two, telling us
Speaker 1: not to come to work, and we never got back
Speaker 1: on the air at ABC News. So she was very
Speaker 1: central in everything that ended up taking place with us.
Speaker 1: So I did you got message this morning? And look
Speaker 1: it's been out there in print, so like ding dong
Speaker 1: the witch is dead, you got that message. I got
Speaker 1: a message someone using the word justice like justice has
Speaker 1: been served. Now that's neither one of those sentiments are
Speaker 1: what we felt this morning.
Speaker 2: No, not at all. And I think it it opens
Speaker 2: up that wound of you know, what we had hoped
Speaker 2: could have been that wasn't. And so yes, when we
Speaker 2: were let go, it wasn't that we wanted her to
Speaker 2: be let go, but you just saw how it was
Speaker 2: all unfolding you and you knew the sentiment in the building.
Speaker 2: And it's a sad morning. That's the best way for
Speaker 2: me to describe it. It makes me feel I just
Speaker 2: I'm refeeling all of the things I felt that day
Speaker 2: when we were told not to come into work, and
Speaker 2: then especially the day when we realized we would never
Speaker 2: be returning to ABC News. It just brings back all
Speaker 2: of those feelings of sadness and frustration and just I
Speaker 2: have a general sentiment of just feeling like it just
Speaker 2: didn't have to happened like this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look we've talked about here, and it admitted
Speaker 1: the errors we made and what we should have done
Speaker 1: differently and better. And you know, I wish that Kim
Speaker 1: Godwin was never in a position to have Amy Roac
Speaker 1: and TJ. Holmes the issue of our divorces and our
Speaker 1: relationship ever come across her desk. I really wish that
Speaker 1: she never would have had to deal with it. But
Speaker 1: here we are. Look what took place with her. You
Speaker 1: can go out there and read whatever issues people had
Speaker 1: with her, but you talk about torn and how the emotions.
Speaker 1: I had a hand. I had a personal hand and
Speaker 1: advocated for her to be president of ABC News because
Speaker 1: at the time, you remember this, we had a group
Speaker 1: of all of our African American talent on the air
Speaker 1: got together and wanted more diversity at the network. This
Speaker 1: is back in twenty sixteen, and then So when twenty
Speaker 1: twenty comes around and the former president LEEH. Golston James
Speaker 1: this ghost and left and when there was an opening,
Speaker 1: we banned it together that same African American group, and
Speaker 1: we went into Disney leadership and said these this is
Speaker 1: who we'd like you to consider. We gave them literally
Speaker 1: a list of names. Kim Gobin was on it, and
Speaker 1: we and our group we talked about and said, hey,
Speaker 1: should we take this name off. We came to a
Speaker 1: decision to give them a final list and she yeah,
Speaker 1: she made the cut, and we advocated for her being
Speaker 1: in that spot. So to talk about how conflicted it
Speaker 1: feels now, I mean, I'm conflicted and I wanted her
Speaker 1: to do well. This is the first black woman to
Speaker 1: be the head of a major news network. I need her,
Speaker 1: We need her to have success. That same woman is
Speaker 1: the one who handled us and gave a call to
Speaker 1: me to not come back on TV, to not come
Speaker 1: back to work, and whatever issues I might take with
Speaker 1: how she handled that conflict. And now she's out of
Speaker 1: there in this manner, in this way, it doesn't look
Speaker 1: it doesn't come across and it won't look like there
Speaker 1: was a successful tenure of the first black woman at
Speaker 1: the head of a major news network. And that sucks.
Speaker 2: It does, that absolutely does. And I too was excited
Speaker 2: to have a woman at the helm and she came
Speaker 2: at a time where there was a lot of work
Speaker 2: to do internally, and that was her mission. She wanted
Speaker 2: to bring people together. Her hashtag that she always ended.
Speaker 2: In fact, she just actually ended her goodbye note, her
Speaker 2: farewell note with her hashtag, which was hashtag one ABC.
Speaker 2: That was her big focus, to bring unity to our
Speaker 2: network in the halls of ABC News, for people to
Speaker 2: feel like we were all part of one family, working
Speaker 2: towards one goal. And that was what she intended to do.
Speaker 2: And unfortunately that did not come together in the way
Speaker 2: she wanted it to. And I know that she I
Speaker 2: know you could well that was her mission.
Speaker 1: Because be prior to right, there was plenty of talk
Speaker 1: out there. Look, some of these articles aren't there. That's
Speaker 1: why I preface it with that. But that was a
Speaker 1: different culture at ABC, and the idea was to bring
Speaker 1: her in to improve the culture. It's not so cutthroats.
Speaker 1: It's not really what you hear of about a newsroom oftentimes,
Speaker 1: right and the way it is, and to have a
Speaker 1: softer gentler more family feel that was her mandate, and
Speaker 1: she came in with that mandate. At the time, she
Speaker 1: couldn't even get to know her own employees because.
Speaker 2: It was the pandemic. So she came. Was it spring
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty one? Yes, yes, Abel to be specific,
Speaker 2: And of course we were all still in the throes
Speaker 2: of the pandemic, So I never even if I met her.
Speaker 2: It was through a mask and it was from a distance,
Speaker 2: But I don't even think I had a meeting with
Speaker 2: her until she had been at the Helm for over
Speaker 2: a year, which is so unusual. That's never happened before.
Speaker 2: I've had plenty of network news bosses and presidents, and
Speaker 2: that's just unprecedented. But she came at a time where
Speaker 2: that kind of contact wasn't readily available. It was we
Speaker 2: were obviously a massive health crisis, so she wasn't able
Speaker 2: to maybe bond with some of the folks that she
Speaker 2: could have, or that she would have ordinarily if she
Speaker 2: had come at a different time.
Speaker 1: There are folks now who are and have for a
Speaker 1: while that think she was given a different treatment because
Speaker 1: she is a black woman. She was handicapped in some
Speaker 1: way that there were the line the soft bigotry of
Speaker 1: low expectations. Right. They put her in a position that
Speaker 1: she couldn't win, that she couldn't succeed those debates, those
Speaker 1: arguments are not the ones we are interested in having.
Speaker 1: And you can have your opinion. People liked her, didn't
Speaker 1: like her, like her style, didn't like her, whatever it
Speaker 1: may be. But for us on this day where we're
Speaker 1: starting to give messages over the past several days and
Speaker 1: even in the week or so, when the writing was
Speaker 1: kind of on the wall, where people are asking us
Speaker 1: or expecting us with now out of the building, nothing
Speaker 1: to lose, freedom to dump on her. No that even
Speaker 1: in private, you're not talking and now we can say
Speaker 1: that honestly in private with none of y'all listen it.
Speaker 1: We did not have a bad word to say no.
Speaker 2: And look, this was a she was in an incredibly
Speaker 2: difficult situation when it came to our our I don't
Speaker 2: even want to say our situation. She was in a
Speaker 2: difficult situation with our difficult situation. And we have made
Speaker 2: it very clear you alluded to this earlier TJ that
Speaker 2: had we been more transparent, had we gone to ABC
Speaker 2: and told them we were having we were actually in
Speaker 2: the middle of divorces. Had we gone to ABC and
Speaker 2: told them we were in a relationship before a tabloid
Speaker 2: photographer revealed our relationship, she would have been in a
Speaker 2: better position to handle this, and we would have probably
Speaker 2: been in a better position to keep our jobs. So
Speaker 2: we fully admit all of those things, and for her
Speaker 2: to have to inherit, that is a difficult situation I
Speaker 2: think for any leader to have to deal with when
Speaker 2: something like that takes on a life of its own
Speaker 2: through the tabloids. I would and I implored her, and
Speaker 2: I asked her to handle it differently. I flat out
Speaker 2: begged her to keep us on the air until an
Speaker 2: internal investigation had actually happened and all the facts were
Speaker 2: known and we could just take some time to breathe.
Speaker 2: But she made her call, and as she was tasked
Speaker 2: to do as a leader, that was her best decision
Speaker 2: in her opinion in that moment. I didn't agree with it,
Speaker 2: but it doesn't mean that I fault for it, because
Speaker 2: she was doing what she thought was best for ABC
Speaker 2: News and I fully believe.
Speaker 1: That, and it's okay for us to think that was
Speaker 1: a mistake, Yes, right, okay, But I think a lot
Speaker 1: has been talked about now is that was a part
Speaker 1: of the thing that in terms of her leadership and
Speaker 1: how she was being I guess Disney or they were
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on her. That was one of the
Speaker 1: things that was not in her pro column, if you will,
Speaker 1: the handling of our situation, as you keep saying, but
Speaker 1: that's that people are alluding to that as one of
Speaker 1: her mishandling, mismanaging of us. I don't know, Robes, and
Speaker 1: I'm not just saying it on Mike here for the podcast,
Speaker 1: and you know, I've been talking to you about it
Speaker 1: privately and I've been surprised, and maybe you have. I
Speaker 1: just didn't feel a whole lot when it comes to
Speaker 1: when I heard this news. There was not a single
Speaker 1: ounce of joy. It wasn't a single bit of me
Speaker 1: that applauded her stepping down having to step down. Yes,
Speaker 1: she stepped down, but I mean she was I mean
Speaker 1: falling tins and purvises. Was knew she was not still
Speaker 1: wanted there. I guess her.
Speaker 2: Power we all know with the with the introduction of
Speaker 2: Deborah O'Connell to come into the news department and have
Speaker 2: a position created for her, that oversaw basically Kim's position.
Speaker 2: So Kim was no longer reporting to Iger or to
Speaker 2: anyone else really over at Disney, but reporting directly to Deborah.
Speaker 2: That was obviously put in place to affect her ability
Speaker 2: to lead and affect her position of power. And ultimately
Speaker 2: we can just assume led to her decision to leave.
Speaker 1: So as she leaves and we get all that, I
Speaker 1: get why people expect us to come out and go
Speaker 1: in or go hard or just there. That's genuinely, honestly nothing,
Speaker 1: And that has something to do with I guess the
Speaker 1: past year and a half of our lives. It has
Speaker 1: to do with growth, It has to do with empathy.
Speaker 1: I just see this woman. Nobody. I don't want her
Speaker 1: to go through what she's going through, whatever her financial
Speaker 1: package was, and she's gonna be okay, And I'm not
Speaker 1: even thinking about that. You don't want this. She was
Speaker 1: a first This is not just a matter for her
Speaker 1: before a lot of other folks were looking at that
Speaker 1: when weird comparison. But when Barack Obama was elected, black
Speaker 1: folk's like, who we really need him to do? Okay,
Speaker 1: because we not go have another black president for one
Speaker 1: hundred years if this one doesn't put on a good
Speaker 1: show for all of us, and so this was to
Speaker 1: be a first. The way she is, the way she
Speaker 1: was even in our even when I didn't like decisions
Speaker 1: she made when we were there, I still I need
Speaker 1: her to do okay and to still be sitting here now.
Speaker 1: There is no one I hold besides the two of
Speaker 1: us more responsible for us not being at the network
Speaker 1: than Kim Godwin. Right, we made our decisions and what not,
Speaker 1: so we have to we take our responsibility. But outside
Speaker 1: of us, the person I hold most responsible is Kim Godwin.
Speaker 1: But I can sit here and not have a single
Speaker 1: bit of ill will towards Kim Godwin or applaud that
Speaker 1: she got what she deserved, got her come up, and
Speaker 1: so got no. I didn't want that for her at all,
Speaker 1: and my heart hurts for her in an entire news
Speaker 1: division that is in turmoil. If you believe what you read,
Speaker 1: but if we believe our text and calls and conversations
Speaker 1: that we have with people who are still in that building.
Speaker 2: Yes, and uh, I you know, I can only hope
Speaker 2: that this is going to clear the path for a
Speaker 2: new way forward, and so that the people who we
Speaker 2: loved working with, who we still love who were still
Speaker 2: in communication with have have some hope, and some some
Speaker 2: new blood, and some just some new decisions and some
Speaker 2: some a new way forward, you know. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: all you can help for. And look any one of us,
Speaker 2: anyone who's been in this business, but in probably most businesses,
Speaker 2: this is part of doing business. I have never been
Speaker 2: at any network or any news station where I haven't
Speaker 2: had a new boss after a few years. So this
Speaker 2: is not an unusual situation. Unfortunately, there is. This is
Speaker 2: a very tumultuous and as you I think you use
Speaker 2: the word cutthroat, cutthroat business. It just is. And anyone
Speaker 2: who's in it knows it. That's you're playing with the
Speaker 2: big boys, and you've got to you've got to play
Speaker 2: at a certain level. And so this kind of thing
Speaker 2: is not unusual. Our connection to her is what makes
Speaker 2: this different for us. And I think you you know,
Speaker 2: you and I both we didn't There was no I
Speaker 2: didn't even I just felt sad. That's just the best
Speaker 2: way for me to put it. We weren't high fiving,
Speaker 2: we weren't saying karma. What goes around comes none of that,
Speaker 2: none of it. And I don't want to live my
Speaker 2: life like that. I don't want to hold onto anything
Speaker 2: like that. And I really truly believe we've joked. I
Speaker 2: think we talked about it with Cheryl Burke about when
Speaker 2: people say it's not personal, it's just business, and it
Speaker 2: always feels really personal. And I get that and we've
Speaker 2: experienced that. But truly, when she made her call, it
Speaker 2: wasn't personal, it was business, and I get that, and
Speaker 2: so I don't feel any anger towards her. And I
Speaker 2: think you and I had both said and everyone kind
Speaker 2: of thinks this if you go through a situation where
Speaker 2: I don't know, you've been fired or maybe it's even
Speaker 2: an X or whatever it is, where you've had a
Speaker 2: relationship or something with someone, and then you wonder what
Speaker 2: would happen if I saw them again, What would happen
Speaker 2: if I ran into them. We actually had the opportunity
Speaker 2: to realize what we were going to do if and
Speaker 2: when that happened, because it did. We did run into
Speaker 2: camp recently.
Speaker 1: Yeah, recent months, we have. We did see her, and
Speaker 1: people often you can't help buy right, like, if you
Speaker 1: could say anything to her today, what would you say?
Speaker 1: And people expect that to be something emotional or negative
Speaker 1: or just to go all did you just want a
Speaker 1: even and we did. We saw her in recent month
Speaker 1: and it was it was pleasant. She didn't see us. No,
Speaker 1: we made the effort to make sure. We reached out
Speaker 1: and we went and we made sure we saw her
Speaker 1: and she saw us, and we sent her a gift.
Speaker 1: In fact, we literally, folks, we sent him Godwin a
Speaker 1: bottle of champagne as a gesture, not as a joke,
Speaker 1: but as a gesture, as a kind gesture, as a
Speaker 1: I don't even want to call it an olive branch,
Speaker 1: but it was just to say we good. We did
Speaker 1: this with her not too terribly long ago. So even then,
Speaker 1: when we had an opportunity to avoid her, we had
Speaker 1: a tough opportunity to go off on her. We had
Speaker 1: an opportunity to do all kinds of things. We didn't
Speaker 1: take that opportunity to do so.
Speaker 2: And I will give you credit for the bottle of
Speaker 2: champagne idea, because it is one of those crazy moments
Speaker 2: where you think, Nah, what are the chances that we
Speaker 2: are actually sitting in the same place that she is.
Speaker 2: She has not seen us. We can totally see her.
Speaker 2: We can see everything she's doing and saying, and we
Speaker 2: could absolutely have walked out avoided her. We had a
Speaker 2: way to get out of that room or that area
Speaker 2: without her having seen us. But then we we did.
Speaker 2: We went back and forth, what do we do? Do
Speaker 2: we go up and say hi? Do do we? I mean?
Speaker 2: We were just there was all the different possibilities. Yeah, right,
Speaker 2: And you had the idea to have the waiters send
Speaker 2: a bottle of champagne over and then kind of reference
Speaker 2: our table and we could just sit and wave and
Speaker 2: just say hi. And it just seemed like the polite,
Speaker 2: kind nice thing to do. As soon as you came
Speaker 2: up with the idea, I said, oh, perfect, that's exactly
Speaker 2: what we need to do. And I will say to
Speaker 2: her credit, when that happened, she was looking around like,
Speaker 2: who just sent me a bottle of champagne? And she
Speaker 2: stood up and she came over to our table and
Speaker 2: she gave us both a hug, and you know what,
Speaker 2: that was all the closure I needed really at that point.
Speaker 2: It was perfect and it was the right thing to do,
Speaker 2: and I felt good about it. I walked away feeling better.
Speaker 1: You know, I haven't thought of U until you said
Speaker 1: it that way. We've discussed that moment before, but that
Speaker 1: was our closure, not her leaving ABC, not anything else.
Speaker 1: That was our closure, and I didn't even know. Maybe
Speaker 1: we needed it, but it was that was a for
Speaker 1: us to be able to sit. Yeah, because we discussed
Speaker 1: back and forth for a while, what are we gonna do.
Speaker 1: Let's get our checked, Let's get the hell out of here.
Speaker 1: You sure you want to say what you really wanted
Speaker 1: to say? It wasn't the case. Maybe that's a part
Speaker 1: of our growth, that's a part of our experience, but
Speaker 1: there is just no animus what I'm when when I
Speaker 1: see that the network or shows are struggling or behind
Speaker 1: or lagging, and then we get all the reports from
Speaker 1: our friends and colleagues and folks who are still in
Speaker 1: the building. I hate that because we know you talked
Speaker 1: about when you're in this business long enough, you get
Speaker 1: a new boss and fresh ideas. But you know what,
Speaker 1: everybody for a little while is going to be on
Speaker 1: pins and needles and going to be on edge. It
Speaker 1: feels awful waiting for the next wave. So what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Are they going to come in it's a new boss,
Speaker 1: They're not gonna really like me? Or are they gonna
Speaker 1: really keep my show in place are they going to
Speaker 1: do that. There's still this this angst for a while,
Speaker 1: waiting for new leadership. The one thing I do think
Speaker 1: say they I are in good hands with Deborah Cara.
Speaker 1: We if you're reading anything out there and you don't
Speaker 1: know who she is, you'll you'll read almost just glowing
Speaker 1: reviews about her in every article because she she is
Speaker 1: a wonderful one. We didn't get to work with enough,
Speaker 1: but we absolutely adore her. So she that makes me
Speaker 1: feel good. They are in very capable hands.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you just pointed it out because that is
Speaker 2: so true. And yes, there is phrenetic energy when there's
Speaker 2: a new boss coming in town eventually or honestly, even
Speaker 2: the interim between, you know, when you don't have a
Speaker 2: new president and you're waiting for the person that they tap.
Speaker 2: But you're right in the meantime, Deborah O'Connell is the
Speaker 2: perfect person to lead that newsroom, that news division into
Speaker 2: or through this transition period until they actually end up
Speaker 2: hiring someone else. And so I do feel good about
Speaker 2: our former colleagues and our friends being in very very
Speaker 2: capable hands with Deborah. So that is that is going
Speaker 2: to help the transition significantly. I don't think I've ever
Speaker 2: seen someone like that step up when we're in a
Speaker 2: period of transition, and we've had plenty of periods of transition,
Speaker 2: so I think this will be fully a better next
Speaker 2: chapter for ABC News.
Speaker 1: It's crazy as it sounds. We root for them, we do.
Speaker 1: It sounds crazy, We root for ABC News because that's
Speaker 1: a place we did. We played such a role in
Speaker 1: building it. In a I say building it, No, no,
Speaker 1: not ABC News, but we played a role in building
Speaker 1: some of the success that that show, or excuse me,
Speaker 1: Gma in particular, has enjoyed over the not responsible for
Speaker 1: let's not let me make sure nobody's can twist it,
Speaker 1: but we contributed greatly and we were leaned on greatly
Speaker 1: as members of that family, and that show has been
Speaker 1: doing so well over the years and the time we
Speaker 1: were there, so it's nice to think we contributed to it.
Speaker 1: We don't want to see anything take away from it.
Speaker 2: No, absolutely not, and we wish nothing but success in
Speaker 2: better days ahead for ABC News and all of the
Speaker 2: wonderful people inside that building.
Speaker 1: I'm dusting off the resume. I'm going to submit my name.
Speaker 1: It's not that funny, Andy Geez Okay, I'm producing here. Okay,
Speaker 1: you aren't supposed to laugh that hard. That is that
Speaker 1: far kind of.
Speaker 2: Hard too, Sorry you can't stop tickling. You think you'd
Speaker 2: make a good ABC News president in.
Speaker 1: One respect, yes, and the other side no. I would
Speaker 1: hire the right people, but I I do pride myself
Speaker 1: on being right and you. It seems like often with bosses,
Speaker 1: you get one or the other. Someone's really good with
Speaker 1: the numbers and the spreadsheets and the planning and the ideas,
Speaker 1: or somebody's really good with people. Somebody's really good by
Speaker 1: making the your your team feel good, your talent feel good,
Speaker 1: the shows, everybody from the top down. It's rare to
Speaker 1: find somebody that has both. I would only have one,
Speaker 1: the ladder of the two, the ladder I am. I am.
Speaker 1: I think you've seen me enough to where I am
Speaker 1: just a people person and I so to. We always say,
Speaker 1: if we open a restaurant together, you, I would be
Speaker 1: out there in front, in the in the in the
Speaker 1: in the the dinning room, shaking hands and making.
Speaker 2: Everybody feel You would be the charisma guy and also
Speaker 2: the menu guy. You would you would definitely put the
Speaker 2: menu together, and I would be in charge of the
Speaker 2: decor and the aesthetics, and we would make a great team.
Speaker 2: That's it's good to know what you're good at, also
Speaker 2: good to know what you're not.
Speaker 1: Charisma and decor. There's no food in this restaurant.
Speaker 2: You know you've got the food. You're really good at that.
Speaker 2: And I said, could I just name one drink?
Speaker 1: That's all?
Speaker 2: That's all I wanted to do. No, No, So yeah,
Speaker 2: and I'm just I. We really wanted to come and
Speaker 2: just put our two cents in, just because we wanted
Speaker 2: to make sure that we reflected on our experience, but
Speaker 2: not in the way I think people thought we would.
Speaker 2: I really wanted to make it clear that we aren't
Speaker 2: celebrating today. We're reflecting and we're a little sad, but
Speaker 2: we're also hopeful that things will get better.
Speaker 1: And this is a This is a a person that,
Speaker 1: like you said earlier, it's not personally, it's just business.
Speaker 1: And but this was someone that we do, over time
Speaker 1: get to know on a personal level. And when you
Speaker 1: know someone personally, when you know them as a human being,
Speaker 1: as a as a wife, as a mother, as a caretaker,
Speaker 1: as a runner, as a people with passion. She's very
Speaker 1: much into her fam you right, her Alma mater. When
Speaker 1: you get to know somebody on that level, that's a
Speaker 1: human being that, no matter what they might have done
Speaker 1: in regards to you, and no matter how things might look,
Speaker 1: and in somewhatever headline you might see, this is a
Speaker 1: human being that we can't help but have our hearts
Speaker 1: go out to as human beings. And that that sentence
Speaker 1: just came out of my mouth, and I'm like, what
Speaker 1: the fuck did I just say? And I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the woman who made the call that says TJ don't
Speaker 1: come back into work and I never went back in
Speaker 1: and it just I don't know, maybe it is empathy, Rose,
Speaker 1: but just to see the news, it wasn't celebratory. And
Speaker 1: we do we wishing everybody with ABC News well, and
Speaker 1: the other reason you said we wanted to come here
Speaker 1: and put our two sent in, well, we also wanted
Speaker 1: maybe the phone to stop bringing so everybody can stop
Speaker 1: asking us for comments.
Speaker 2: Here it is, there's our comment. We wish everyone the best,
Speaker 2: and yeah, we wish nothing but the best for Kim
Speaker 2: and her future and getting to be with her family
Speaker 2: and getting to do the thing she loves and getting
Speaker 2: to take a break it's a crazy, crazy thing to
Speaker 2: be in the news business at that level. It is
Speaker 2: a twenty four to seven job. And so I hope
Speaker 2: she gets to enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1: If nothing else, Kim, take it from us, there is
Speaker 1: life outside of the newsroom, and you might actually enjoy
Speaker 1: it when you get out of there and you're not
Speaker 1: in that same grind. It don't feel that same pressure.
Speaker 1: And it's just amazing how much life has changed for
Speaker 1: us by getting away from that and not voluntarily, sure,
Speaker 1: not voluntarily, but getting away from it. So to our
Speaker 1: friends at ABC News, to our friends at Good Morning America,
Speaker 1: we are we will forever. We're rooting for you. We're
Speaker 1: rooting for you in this time of transition. We root
Speaker 1: for you in your ratings battles with The Today Show
Speaker 1: and CBS this Morning. We root for you that the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals will be high rated, so you get the
Speaker 1: residual we are rooting for you. And I didn't think
Speaker 1: about it until you said it. This This was not
Speaker 1: the button for us. The closure was when we saw her,
Speaker 1: got to hug, got to see her face again, got
Speaker 1: to say whatever we wanted to say, and moved on.
Speaker 1: That was our closure months ago.
Speaker 2: And I really really felt peace after that, and I
Speaker 2: hope she feels that piece as well.
Speaker 1: So, folks, you can continue to keep up with throbok
Speaker 1: and I here on the podcast on our Instagram page.
Speaker 1: The official one for the show is at Amy and
Speaker 1: TJ Podcast. We have our individual accounts as well, but
Speaker 1: we appreciate you all. As always, we spend a little
Speaker 1: time with us