It isn’t just listeners worried about T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach’s awkward podcast feud — T.J. himself is concerned about a racial backlash over their bickering, and hesitated to post the episode because of it.
via: People
Following the release of a podcast episode in which Holmes, 46, and Amy Robach recorded one of their real-life arguments as a couple, the ex-Good Morning America hosts responded to the backlash from commenters.
A new episode of Amy and T.J. Podcast featured the couple exploring how race plays into Holmes’ fear of being wrongly perceived. The 50-year-old began, “I flat out said to both of you [Robach and producer] right there on the phone at 4:30 in the morning, East Coast time, that I don’t want to put this out because this is going to I fear be viewed as a Black man beating up on a White woman.”
“Now, if anybody took their time and listened to that podcast, obviously I was not yelling, screaming,” he continued. “I wasn’t doing anything. Now, we are a couple who’s having a disagreement, so obviously neither one of us are having our best moments.”
Holmes was right as some comments did define his behavior by the fact that he’s a Black man. For Robach, it was a lesson in being in an interracial relationship.
“That would never have crossed my mind. Race, the fact that you’re Black and I’m White, would never have crossed my mind, and that’s kind of to your point,” she said. “You have to think about things that I don’t have to think about. And honestly, it took me a second to kind of wrap my head around it. Once you explained it — and once we’ve seen the reaction, a lightbulb went off for me, in a way. And it’s just a constant learning curve. But, and I’ve said this the whole time, I don’t know what I don’t know, and every day I learn more about what I don’t know.”
Robach confirmed — despite fan assumptions — that their relationship conflicts are healthy. “I have never had more respectful disagreements with anyone in my life than I have with you,” she said.
Holmes and Robach’s “raw” podcast — which featured the argument — was focused on their relationship issues. The heated conversation showed the pair confronting communication deficits in the relationship when Robach called Holmes “moody.” He admitted he usually doesn’t share his “really bad days” with his girlfriend.
The couple filmed the episode in their living room, and it came as a surprise to their entire podcast team. Holmes said, “We ain’t right. You and I aren’t okay right now,” of pitching the raw podcast idea. “I said, ‘You know what? Let’s set up and do a podcast.’”
Some commenters assumed Holmes and Robach would call it quits after the argument — but they didn’t. “We just wanted to check in and let you know that, despite what you’ve been hearing, we are still together,” the pair shared on Instagram after the flood of comments started.
