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While office relationships are mostly discouraged, they’re not uncommon. According to a 2022 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, one-third of U.S. workers say they’re currently involved in an office romance or have been in the past. And the majority of employees and employers say they’re okay with workplace relationships as long as they’re consensual.
That wasn’t the case when it was learned that two Good Morning America hosts, Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes, both married, were having an affair. Though they aren’t violating company policy, ABC executives decided to take them off the air. They say only temporary until things quiet down. Was that the right thing to do? Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid says no and makes the argument that workplace romance is nobody’s business but those involved.
In any case, the president of ABC News, Kim Godwin, informed staffers that while Robach and Holmes have not violated company policy, the organization feels that the matter has become “an internal and external disruption,” and they benched them pending further exploration, or investigation, or discussion, whatever it is they’re planning to do. Really?
It’s a morning show. They’re talking about, like, Julia Roberts and George Clooney. And have you ever seen Mika Brezinski and Joe Scarborough – who also left their respective spouses for each other a few years back – on MSNBC?
Their utter inability to stop flirting on camera despite Willie Geist’s VERY apparent discomfort is TV at its finest. Truly. Look, if a breakup happens between two people, on the job or elsewhere, the parties involved are going to have to deal with the fallout in whatever form. And sure, it’s more complicated to have to deal with said fallout on TV.
But it’s also their prerogative. And in this age of performative authenticity and reality TV stunting, isn’t it refreshing to see two people actually just…being in a relationship? Out there in the open, with all its complicated unpredictability?
