Ex ’GMA’ Anchor Janai Norman Goes After Michael Strahan Over ‘Insensitive’ Interview After Abrupt Ouster

Janai Norman isn’t holding back on her former employer.

Months after ABC News declined to renew her contract, the ex-Good Morning America Weekend anchor has unleashed a series of pointed criticisms of the network and one of its most prominent faces, Michael Strahan, 54, according to a report the New York Post published on Friday, August 14.

At the center of Norman’s ire is Strahan’s on-air interview with the parents of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old who died after a boating trip with friends. According to the report, Norman argued Strahan pressed the grieving parents to explain why their son might have stayed behind on Horn Island rather than questioning the premise itself. “That was not an objective question,” she said. “Subjectively, I would say that it was insensitive.”

The outlet reported that Norman went further, arguing that newsrooms broadly lean too heavily on law enforcement accounts. “Many news organizations haven’t yet learned that they cannot always trust law enforcement as primary sources of credible information, and that is what plays into racial divisions,” she said, invoking what she called Mississippi’s history as “the state with the most recorded lynchings in history.” She added that outlets ignoring that context “become complicit in upholding white supremacy.”

According to a Thursday, August 13 report from Status, tensions between Norman and ABC brass began before her departure and have since spilled over into a disagreement about her forthcoming book, Breaking, prompting Norman to alter its cover art at the network’s request.

Norman had previously signaled she was blindsided by how her 15-year run ended, the New York Post reported. “I have loved my job. It has been a joy to connect with my co-workers and with viewers, to help keep you informed and entertained, and to create this community,” Norman stated, per the outlet. “So it really breaks my heart that I don’t get to say goodbye,” she said. “I’m so sorry that I don’t get to say goodbye.”