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Report: Julie Chen out at 'The Talk'

Will the hostess also be evicted from the 'Big Brother' house?

By Edward AndersonPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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“From outside the Big Brother house, I am Julie Chen Moonves. Good Night.” That’s how the CBS hostess signed off from her nighttime job last Thursday. It was her first television appearance since Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker piece cost her husband, Les Moonves, his job as CEO of the broadcaster. Now comes word that Chen will not returning to her daytime job.

After much speculation from industry bibles like TVLine and Deadline, Page Six has been informed that Julie Chen is resigning from The Talk. As with many things in Hollywood, what is being said may not in fact be the truth of what’s happening. Page Six and their sources say that they believe that Chen “was asked to leave.” Though it is expected that she will say that she is leaving on her own accord. Having covered Hollywood for nearly nine years, his sort of backroom dealing is not unusual and no company wants it to look like they are punishing the wife for the actions of her husband, though they are.

Given the nature of The Talk, there was very little chance of Chen successfully rejoining the cast in a productive way. As has been noted by many people, notably Joy Behar, with the #MeToo movement moving full steam ahead she couldn’t authentically talk about it. Not with the specter of her husband over the conversations. Co-host Sharon Osborne had already commented about how odd it was to be talking about the husband of her friend on such terms.

Expect for speculation about Chen’s future with summer reality show staple Big Brother to be called into question. There will be denials on all sides bit of history is an indicator, CBS is trying to get out of business with anyone associated with Moonves and that means divesting themselves of his wife. Fair? Probably not. But when it comes to the entertainment industry nothing ever is. Chen will probably be allowed to finish this season of Big Brother before being replaced by someone who is still on the network. My guess is that it will be someone like Sherry Underwood.

Speculation will start immediately about who will replace her on The Talk. As I’ve said many times on my podcast, Drunk Gossip, the network brass already know who they want to replace her. There may even already be a contract in place, the same way Talk rival The View had already signed Meghan McCain to replace Jedediah Bila before the latter knew that she was losing her job. It’s the way the business runs. Don’t be surprised if it’s someone like Gayle King or if they’re very lucky, Oprah Winfrey. Don’t scoff at that notion, she is part of the CBS family of on air talent.

For her part, Chen seemed to know what she was doing. Full disclosure, I didn’t see the aforementioned sign off because I don’t watch reality shows. However, she is a smart lady and knew that would get people talking. It did, and it might have cost her at least one job, if not both. Perhaps, the name change had been planned well in advance but that seems unlikely since nobody in the press had heard about it. If you think that anything gets by them, read the gossip blogs. They have the big stories before they hit the mainstream.

For the record I’ve been checking to see if her resignation message had hit the mainstream media yet. It has not as of press time. Though Page Six is confident that the resignation is coming in a “matter of minutes” rather than days. This will be the most scandalous, or at least salacious exit from a talk show since The Jenny Jones Murder.

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About the Creator

Edward Anderson

Edward has written hundreds of acclaimed true crime articles and has won numerous awards for his short stories.

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