A Washington Post opinion column bashed ABC News as "busybodies" who "meddled" in T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach's "consensual" extramarital affair, after the network took the co-anchors off the air this week.
The "GMA 3"co-anchors drew unwanted attention to the network after they were caught in a cheating scandal. Photos and videos of the couple canoodling made media headlines this week and became tabloid fodder, prompting the network to take action this week by taking the co-hosts off the air.
ABC News' President Kim Godwin informed staffers on Monday morning that the "distraction" had become too significant and they will remain sidelined until the network figures out the next step. However, columnist Helaine Olen argued that the way ABC handled this was "a master class in the wrong way to go about managing a workplace romance."
"No one needs the c-suite to weigh in on consensual behavior between equals that takes place outside the workplace — no matter how attention-getting it is," she continued.
While ABC's parent company Disney brands itself as a wholesome, family-friendly company, Olen didn't see the co-workers' extramarital relationship as a workplace problem.
"Given the natural human inclination to gossip about celebrities and co-workers, that distraction may be real — and yet it’s unclear precisely how the romantic upgrade in Holmes and Robach’s relationship is otherwise a problem," she said.
Olen argued the anchors shouldn't have been punished because "work place romances are incredibly common."
The columnist went on to cite surveys showing how prevalent workplace romances are, with 10-30 percent of these romances allegedly resulting in long-term or married relationships. Even the fact that the two were already married wasn't that unusual, she argued. "And, yes, while we are on the subject, a 2017 Harris Poll found almost one-quarter of workplace relationships involved adultery," Olen wrote.
Olen pointed out that shows could survive a cheating scandal, noting "Morning Joe" co-anchors Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough's relationship was rumored to have started when each of them were married to other people. The co-hosts married each other in 2018.
"So why not tell co-workers to MYOB [mind your own business] and let everyone get back to work?" the columnist asked.
She slammed ABC once more for "meddling" in the pair's lives.
"But even under present circumstances, no one should encourage ABC to take two anchors off the air for falling in love and lust. The relationship between Holmes and Robach might have caused their spouses great pain, but that’s not, as awful as it is, a workplace issue. In an age when social media increasingly merges our public and personal lives, corporate HQ needs to resist this sort of busybody meddling. We all deserve a zone of privacy — even canoodling co-anchors," she concluded.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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