ABC is denying Regis Philbin’s claim that he has never been invited back to “Live” since he left the show in 2011 with video evidence.
“It was wonderful to have Regis on the show for our 2015 Halloween special,” Dave Davis, president and general manager of WABC, told TheWrap in a statement. “He’s also been invited back several times as a guest, and in fact was confirmed for a date, but was not able to make it at the time.”
Philbin did in fact appear in a taped segment for the 2015 Halloween special, which you can watch here. You can also watch behind the scenes footage featuring Philbin and Ripa here.
In an interview with Larry King earlier this week, Philbin said that there is some bad blood between himself and Ripa.
“She got very offended when I left. She thought I was leaving because of her,” Philbin said. “I was leaving because I was getting older and it was not right for me anymore.”
When King asked if the show’s producers have ever asked him to return to make a guest appearance following his 2011 retirement, he said, “Never once did they ask me to go back.”
Philbin began hosting “Live” in 1988. Ripa joined him in 2001 and the two worked together up until his retirement, when Michael Strahan took over for him.
Ripa is still looking for her permanent replacement for Strahan‘s seat, which was vacated by the former NFL defensive end last year. The ex-New York Giants great bailed on the late-morning chat program for the greener pastures (and earlier call times) of ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Since then, Ripa has tried out roughly 40 co-hosts. Not all of them are pining for the permanent gig of course, but TheWrap has each of their Nielsen TV ratings results ranked here for readers.