George Stephanopoulos was repeatedly told by his executive producer not to “use the word rape” before going on the air to discuss Donald Trump but the ABC News anchor ignored the warning — a decision that cost the network $16 million, The Post has learned.
Parent company Disney’s capitulation last week in the defamation lawsuit by Trump against ABC News and Stephanopoulos shocked media and legal experts, but the damning revelation could help explain why Mouse House CEO Bob Iger signed off on the settlement so quickly.
The “This Week” host uttered that Trump was “liable for rape” while discussing the civil lawsuit won by journalist E. Jean Carroll during an interview with Republican lawmaker Nancy Mace in March.
“‘This Week’ producer said ‘don’t use the word rape’ before the segment started,” a network source told The Post. “The EP [executive producer] said it so many times.”
A second source at the show confirmed via a text message viewed by The Post that Stephanopoulos was warned “not to say rape.”
Disney’s chances of winning the lawsuit would be damaged if Stephanopoulos ignored his producer’s warning, legal experts told The Post.
Often, when dealing with litigious subjects, the company’s legal team may speak to producers ahead of time to advise on language so as to avoid lawsuits, which is customary in the media industry.
However, it is unclear whether ABC’s legal team had been involved before Stephanopoulos went on the air.
ABC News declined to comment. Reps for Disney and Stephanopoulos did not return requests for comment.
Iger agreed to the deal late Friday — hours after Florida Judge Cecilia Altonaga rejected a request to delay the case and ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for hours-long depositions just days before Christmas, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
The judge also demanded that Disney turn over emails and text messages sent by and to Stephanopoulos by Sunday — which could have forced the media mogul’s hand if the damning text messages surfaced, according to the Times.
Disney’s top lawyer, Horacio Gutierrez, urged Iger to settle the suit rather than risk a civil trial in front of a jury in the president-elect’s home state, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.
Iger also was worried that fighting the case could “risk damaging press protections” and “hurt the Disney brand,” according to the Times.
If Disney were to suffer a negative outcome in US district court in Florida, the company feared the possible repercussions of appealing to the Supreme Court given the current 6-3 right-leaning majority.
According to the Journal, Disney was concerned that appealing an unfavorable ruling to the Supreme Court would have increased the risk of possibly overturning New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 decision that granted the press sweeping protections against defamation lawsuits.
Sources also told The Post that one factor playing into Iger’s thinking is that he didn’t want a lawsuit hanging over his company’s flagship television property ahead of a possible sale.
The deal awarded $15 million to a presidential foundation and museum for Trump and another $1 million for Trump’s attorney fees.
As part of the settlement, Stephanopoulos was forced to apologize — which made the journalist “apoplectic” and “humiliated,” The Post exclusively reported Tuesday — in an article headlined: “Furious George.”
A source said that ABC News employees are now calling Stephanopoulos “furious George” behind his back. They are also wondering how the star anchor can now cover the incoming Trump administration.
“Everyone seems to be asking that question except ABC brass,” the source said.
Trump initially filed the lawsuit in March.
Days later, the anchor went on CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and reasserted his claim that “rape” was an appropriate word to use, based on comments made by the judge in the New York case.
“I’m not going to be cowed out of doing my job because of the threat,” Stephanopoulos said of Trump’s lawsuit.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing toward Carroll, but last year a New York court found he was liable for sexual abuse over allegations that he abused her at a department store in 1996 and later defamed her in his statements where he denied her allegations.
