Following Howie Mandel’s apology to Kelly Ripa for his conduct during a recent interview, an executive producer for the series has given his thoughts. On an episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, alongside Kelly’s husband and co-host Mark Consuelos, an exchange intended as a compliment made for awkward viewing. “You just celebrated 70 years. You’re 70 years old,” Mark told Howie during the interview.
Then, Kelly added that his age “doesn’t make any sense” to her. “What do you mean, it doesn’t make any sense?” Howie retorted. In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Mark replied, “You look great!” but that didn’t please the comedian.
Michael Gelman responded to the Kelly Ripa apology
“I look great? That doesn’t mean anything to me!” Howie snapped. “No, no, no, no. I don’t like that, because that’s a caveat.”
“We’re not saying you look great for 70. You look great,” Kelly explained. “Yes, you are, without saying ‘70’!” Howie said.
“It’s like saying you’re smart for a stupid person,” the comedian claimed.
Later, Howie issued an Instagram video apology directed at Kelly. “Philosophically, I don’t believe that — somebody who’s a comedian — needs to apologize for a joke,” he began in the video.
“This is for Kelly Ripa,” he said, describing the host as “incredibly supportive.” “Not only do I want to say I’m sorry to Kelly, but, and this is the hardest part — you’re right. You’re absolutely right,” he said.
Then, he finished his apology with a joke. “After a lot of thought and self-reflection, I look great for my age, I really do. I really, I look fantastic.”
Later, Michael Gelman, executive producer for the show, commented on the post. He joined in on the joke, implying that production was cool about what went down. “During these divided times, one thing we can all agree upon is that you do look great … for your age,” Michael said, in a tongue-in-cheek response.
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