While some fans were surprised by the cancellation of E! News after 34 years on the air, former host Lilliana Vazquez was not.
“No, I’m not surprised,” Vazquez shared in a Friday, July 25, TikTok post. She went on to call herself the “shortest tenured host at E! News,” having left the network in 2021 after her brief time hosting the entertainment news show.
“I signed on in December of 2019 and hosted it through March of 2020, and if you dare to remember what happened in March of 2020, our show went off the air with me as the host because of the pandemic,” she explained. “And when it came back, it came back in a very different form, and I was no longer with the network.”
For Vazquez, the “writing was on the wall for the show” when she took over as host, having only chosen to do so after the series decided to change to a live morning format. “As somebody who comes from the Today show and from QVC, live is what I do. And the reason for that is there’s no room to edit and you have to be one and done,” she said. “The level of skill and preparation that it takes to do a live show every day is, to me, like the TV Olympics, and I wanted to be on that team.”
However, Vazquez said E! News “didn’t work” when it reverted to a taped format after her brief time on the show. “It’s far too edited for today’s consumption. Right now, I can jump on TikTok or Instagram Stories or Instagram Reels and get real live hot takes in the moment that are reactive to what is happening when it comes to entertainment news,” she told her followers. “By the time a story gets put on E! News at 11:30 p.m. at night, the story’s dead. … So, for me, being live at 7 a.m. East Coast time, we were the first to bat with that story. People were waking up, they were getting their morning news, and we were going to be part of that conversation.”
@thelillianavazquez They cancelled E!News… Are you really surprised?😳 Here’s my hot take and I’m not holding back. #enews #cancelled #nbc ♬ original sound – ًLilliana
She added, “The second they decided to take that show back to tape, which is what it’s always been, minus the three months I hosted it, the show was done. And this isn’t to say anything negative about the caliber of producers and talent on that show.”
Vazquez went on to praise the show’s hosts, including its current stars, Justin Sylvester and Keltie Knight, as well as alums such as Ryan Seacrest, Giuliana Rancic, and Jason Kennedy. “I always thought that these people were probably too big for that platform, and that’s why they left, and I have a feeling that I’m right about that,” she noted.
She also claimed that the series was a “PR machine,” stating, “To think that you are getting an authentic, fair version of entertainment news on air, not possible, you guys. There were so many touch points to every story that went on air, and I’m not saying that we didn’t try our best as host or as producers to get you the most factual, accurate representation of that story, but there were puppeteers behind the scenes.”
Regardless of her opinions, Vazquez said she is “sad” that “hundreds of people have lost their jobs” as a result of E! News‘ cancellation. “Anyway, that’s my opinion, I’m probably gonna get in trouble for it, but whatever. Who cares? I don’t work there anymore,” she quipped at the end of the video.
News broke on Friday that E! News will air its final episode on September 25. The cancellation comes as NBCUniversal joins forces with the publicly traded company Versant (formerly SpinCo). Networks such as NBC, Peacock, and Bravo will remain part of NBCU’s original brand. In contrast, others, including E!, USA Network, Syfy, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, and the Golf Channel, will operate under Versant.
E! News, Monday-Thursday, 11:30/10:30c, E!