Statement: Sherri Shepherd To Take Over ‘Wendy Williams’
Brandi cummings - facebook
Broadcast: The 25th season of ABC’s The View has seen many previous co-hosts return to the show, and it will continue to do so as the season continues. Specifically, it has been confirmed that Meredith Vieira and Elisabeth Hasselbeck will return to the show during February 2022. Vieira was an original co-host alongside Star Jones, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, and Debbie Matenopoulos when the show first premiered in 1997. Hasselbeck was a co-host from 2003-2013.
Whoopie Goldberg was suspended from The View on January 31st for two weeks after comments she made about the Holocaust during a discussion about a Tennessee school board’s choice to remove Maus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, from its curriculum because of its “adult content.” Goldberg argued that the Holocaust was not about race but instead about “man’s inhumanity to man.” When her co-hosts pushed back against this claim, Goldberg replied: “But these are two white groups.” Outrage followed. Goldberg apologized that night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She also tweeted that she spoke with the head of the Anti-Defamation League about her comments. She wrote: “As Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi's systematic annihilation of the Jewish people--who they deemed to be an inferior race.' I stand corrected.” She added: “The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I'm sorry for the hurt I have caused.”
Brandi Cummings has been promoted to morning anchor at KCRA Sacramento. Previously, Cummings has been weekend anchor while also reporting for early evening newscasts. Among other stations, she has worked at WAVY Norfolk, WTOC Savannah, and WIS Columbia (SC). Cummings joins Ty Steele as co-anchor on KCRA 3 News on My58 at 7 and 8 a.m. and Deirdre Fitzpatrick, Teo Torres, Tamara Berg, and Melanie Hunter from 4-7 a.m. for the same program. “We’re proud to add a valuable female voice to the KCRA 3 anchor desk each morning. Brandi has already proven to be an outstanding journalist and member of our news team,” KCRA-KQCA President and General Manager Ariel Roblin told Broadcasting+Cable.
Sherri Shepherd is currently finalizing a deal to become a permanent host on The Wendy Williams Show, according to sources for Deadline. She emerged as one of the lead guest hosts on the show with fellow actor Michael Rapaport during the program’s 13th season, wherein Williams took time off as a host to deal with various health concerns. According to Deadline, Shepherd will be named a permanent host. Williams is still recovering from health issues, and she will not return to the show this season. Shepherd is currently on the guest host list for February, along with Rapaport, Fat Joe. Remy Ma, Bevy Smith, and Terrence J.
Aisha Thomas-petit - AMC Networks
Cable: Aisha Thomas-Petit, AMC Networks’ first chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, has been named AMC’s chief people and diversity officer. She is replacing Jennifer Caserta, who is leaving the company after 20 successful years with the programmer. Caserta spent 14 years at AMC’s IFC TV network, finishing as president and general manager, before heading the personnel function. Previously, Thomas-Petit worked with ADP, where she was chief diversity, inclusion, and corporate social responsibility officer. Prior to that, she was with Barclays Capital and JP Morgan Chase.
Gray Television has recently finalized an agreement with Capital Media Group to acquire WKTB Atlanta, also known as Telemundo Atlanta, as well as sister company Surge Digital Media. With Gray’s base in Atlanta, Gray Chairman and CEO Hilton Howell told Broadcast+Cable: “We are very excited to add Telemundo Atlanta and Surge Digital to our growing local presence in our hometown.” Susan Sim Oh and Coline Sim, co-owners of Telemundo Atlanta, are expected to join Gray Television as this deal closes. Sim will lead the station’s operations, and Sim Oh will guide strategy, multiplatform operations, and national expansion for Gray’s Telemundo stations.
Byron Allen is pursuing many avenues for expanding his business, but he does not want to be the sole Black owner of TV stations. Determined to build the world’s largest media company, Allen has recently moved towards creating streaming services and buying various old-fashioned local TV stations. Allen wants these stations to become number one in news. Allen also hopes to “save the world” in terms of climate change, and his purchase of The Weather Channel was the first step. Allen’s ambition does not stop there; he also seeks to unite a divided country and inspire more African-American representation in the business: “I am the only African-American that owns a Big Four network affiliate and controls and operates Big Four network affiliates in America,” he told Broadcast+Cable. “That’s a very bad statement, that America has a Black unicorn. It is something that as a country, we need to do much better.