Wednesday, May 1, 2024

ABC News weatherman Rob Marciano fired after ‘anger’ issues: sources

Veteran ABC News weatherman Rob Marciano was fired Tuesday — a year after temporarily getting yanked off the air for “anger management issues,” sources with knowledge told The Post. 
Marciano, who appeared on “Good Morning America” and “World News Tonight” for a decade, made news last year amid complaints about his behavior over the years. 
The Cornell graduate was temporarily “banned” from the Times Square studios of “GMA” after he allegedly made a colleague feel uncomfortable, Page Six reported in March 2023.
“He was found to have done something … that was improper, but he was punished for it, and they still haven’t let him return,” one insider told Page Six at the time. 
ABC News declined to comment on his ouster Tuesday. 
Representatives for Marciano did not return requests for comment. More recently, he was moved to ABC News’ “World News Tonight” and made appearances on “GMA.” 
Marciano, 55, also has been providing weather reports on other ABC News platforms including its digital livestreams, “World News Tonight,” which shoots in another studio in New York, as well as occasional reports from the field — not from the studio — for “GMA.” 
His last report was posted on April 28 from Shreveport, La., where he chronicled the devastation from powerful hurricanes like Katrina and Rita for Earth Week. 
As recently as Tuesday morning, he was reposting ABC News content via his Instagram Stories, including a video about a storm chaser in Nebraska. 
It’s unclear what exactly transpired between Marciano and his colleague last year, but another source said he had been dealing with some “anger management issues” while going through a divorce from his wife. The two were married for 11 years and share two kids. 
“He made people feel uncomfortable. There was a period where there were some issues, a number of alarming events,” the second source claimed. “There were times when [Marciano] was very cranky and angry … unsavory behavior on his part. He was pulled off to deal with it and he’s been back.”
According to Page Six, the network’s employee relations took Marciano off the air for a month following an alleged incident with a female co-worker, but “GMA” executive producer Simone Swink wouldn’t let him back in the studio several months later. 
“She’s no-nonsense and is very serious. She’s focused on the work and wants to keep [her staff] focused and happy. She’s very protective of her team,” the second source said. 
Swink was appointed to the top job in 2021 — a tumultuous period for “GMA,” in which former boss Michael Corn was ousted from the network amid claims that he sexually assaulted two women. Corn has denied the claims. 
Swink didn’t want any distraction from the show, sources said, and continued to keep Marciano away from the set. “Any decision made about the team is based first and foremost on protecting the culture and enabling our people to focus on the work of news-gathering — free of distraction,” a source familiar with the situation told Page Six at the time. 
After graduating from Cornell with a degree in meteorology, Marciano worked at local TV and radio stations in Oregon, Louisiana and Connecticut before getting hired as a co-host on “Entertainment Tonight” and then as a meteorologist and anchor for CNN. 
He joined ABC in 2014. (Via NYP)
On Wednesday, The Daily Beast reported that Marciano was fired after he got into a “heated screaming match” with one of the producers of "Good Morning America." The network’s chief meteorologist, Ginger Zee, apparently heard about the tirade then decided to report the incident to network leadership, considering that it wasn’t the first time that Marciano had crossed the line on the set.
Sources said that given the history of past complaints about Marciano’s behavior, the network decided this “was the last straw” and gave him his walking papers.
The New York Post reported on Wednesday that Marciano “clashed” with Zee for years, that their working relationship had long been stormy, and they did not collaborate.