ABC cancels The Chew as Mario Batali faces more allegations of sexual misconduct

The hosts of The Chew with Disney characters in 2016.

(Image credit: Todd Anderson/Disney Parks via Getty Images)

last updated 24 May 2018

On Wednesday, ABC canceled The Chew to make room for a third hour of Good Morning America, which will air in the afternoon.

The new Good Morning America program will take over The Chew's time slot in September. Staffers were notified Wednesday and "completely blindsided," one person with knowledge of the situation told Us Weekly. "They were under the impression that the show was still strong and would continue." New episodes of The Chew, now in its seventh season, will start taping in June, to air through the summer.

Former co-host Mario Batali was fired from the show in December after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him. Earlier this week, it was reported that the celebrity chef is under investigation by the NYPD for alleged sex-related crimes, but a representative for ABC told AOL the cancelation was "a business decision" and Batali "did not factor into this." Last week, co-host Carla Hall revealed that there were no plans to replace Batali on the show.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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