Should Ryan Seacrest Leave ‘American Idol’ Ahead Of The Premiere?
Danny Moloshok/Reuters Reading Time: 2 minutes
Last night was the Oscars and there was one story that went around a lot and it had to do with Ryan Seacrest. He was on the red carpet for E! and a lot of people in Hollywood, especially given the #metoo era, did not want to talk to him or if they did talk to him, they were kind of awkward. The audiences also tuned out with his red carpet coverage dropping 43% in the ratings from last year. This comes after allegations that he had sexually harassed his former stylist. So, the question is: Should American Idol keep him on for the premiere.
A week ago Seacrest’s former stylist Suzie Hardy came forward with allegations that he repeatedly groped her and once hugged her in his underwear with an erection. He denied it, of course, and his lawyer said that Hardy tried to extort money from Seacrest. So far E!, Kelly Ripa, and American Idol have kept him on. Let’s face it, they’ve made a big investment into the Ryan Seacrest brand and they stand to lose a lot of money if they break his contract by firing him.
He could always pull a Charlie Walk and quit and that gets the shows off the hook but he doesn’t seem to feel the need to step down…yet. There is a growing choir of people that think he should quit in the industry. As a host of several shows, if celebrities aren’t willing to talk to him because they believe he’s a sexual abuser then he’s in big trouble. Also, the shows don’t want to risk losing ratings because people are tuning out because of Seacrest. However, I have noticed that in the last week Seacrest has been surgically removed from all the ads for American Idol.
So, should they get rid of him? I’m not sure yet but if another woman comes forward I think he’s going to be toast. People might look the other way with one allegation, especially one in which the woman might have tried to extort money from him. But two women is too much smoke to ignore the fire.
