Steve Kmetko Michael Tullberg/Getty Photographs
Former E! Information reporter Steve Kmetko disappeared from the highlight after he was fired from the present in 2002 — however what occurred to the previous information anchor?
“I used to be requested to go away Hollywood 20 years in the past. Let’s simply say it wasn’t my alternative,” Kmetko, 71, shared on a latest episode of his “Nonetheless Right here Hollywood” podcast. “To say that my life has been a wrestle after leaving the purple carpets and anchor chair could be overstating issues.”
In 2002, Kmetko was a number as E!, and it was time for a contract negotiation.
“On the time, I informed everyone I had the most effective job there was; I actually cherished that job,” he recalled. “I placed on [my website], ‘To the viewers on the market, should you like my work and wish to see me proceed, I’d admire you writing to administration and saying, ‘We like Steve.’”
Kmetko claimed that “administration didn’t like that” and he was confronted about the place that message was typed. He mentioned it was not shared from a piece laptop — one thing he couldn’t bear in mind on the time. When it was later revealed that Kmetko had shared the message from a pc at work, they mentioned he was “in violation of one thing” — later revealed to be “mental property.”
Administration claimed they couldn’t have “a newsman” who would lie. “A technique or one other I felt they have been seeking to eliminate me, Kmetko continued, recalling that his supervisor was “asking for $1 million a 12 months” on his behalf.
Steve Kmetko Michael Buckner/Getty Photographs for Columbia School Chicago
Kmetko was employed because the E! Information anchor in 1994, cohosting the present till his firing. After parting methods with the community, Kmetko tried to get work at different shops however was shut down.
“I might by no means perceive why I couldn’t do the identical job someplace else, however perhaps that was simply an excuse I used to be being given,” he mentioned. “Hollywood is wealthy with excuses.”
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After Kmetko was informed he handed his “sell-by date,” the anchor moved again to his native Chicago the place he labored at an Apple Retailer and began “self-medicating” with medicine and alcohol. (Kmetko is presently sober.)
“To at the present time, I depart my TV on all night time lengthy as a result of if I get up in the course of the night time and there’s no sound, my head begins going,” he admitted, earlier than discussing what it was prefer to undergo from a stroke lately.
Kmetko mentioned a physician informed him that he’s “fortunate” to be alive and general, the anchor is completely happy to be again in Hollywood. “I’m glad to be right here,” he mentioned.
