ABC News made it official this morning: Diane Sawyer will interview Bruce Jenner about his transformation on April 24.
“Bruce Jenner’s far-ranging, exclusive interview with ABC News Anchor Diane Sawyer airs Friday, April 24 on a special edition of “20/20.” The two-hour special, “Bruce Jenner – The Interview” airs on the ABC Television Network at 9 p.m., ET,” the network announced.
Last month, E! appeared to have hit the pause button on its planned Jenner reality series, in the wake of his recent car accident, but ABC News looked to be plowing ahead with its Sawyer interview with the former Olympic star-turned-Kardashian patriarch, envisioned for broadcast some time this month. Plans for that ABC News special changed slightly, in light of the car crash in which a woman was killed when Jenner’s vehicle catapulted hers into oncoming traffic on Pacific Coast Highway, and seven injured.
ABC News will cover that wreck in Malibu when Sawyer interviews Jenner about his transition. Sawyer, reigning Queen of the Big Get, landed the interview despite Jenner being a home-grown star of NBCU – parent of E! Entertainment, where Jenner is patriarch of that network’s biggest franchise, the Kardashians. Doubly embarrassing for NBCU: Jenner is an Olympic gold medalist, and NBC is the broadcast network of the Olympics.
Sawyer stepped down as anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight in September, saying she would concentrate on big specials and big interviews. Jenner’s first sit-down certainly checks all those boxes and then some. This year’s May sweep ratings derby begins April 23. The interview with Sawyer would be the first discussion of Jenner’s transition by a major news outfit.
For months, Jenner’s changing appearance has been the subject of coyly worded posts in the tabloids about the shaving down of his Adam’s apple, the growing out of his hair, the manicuring and painting of his fingernails, the possible plumping of his lips. Those tabloids, long the newsletter of E! and of the Kardashian family in particular, did the first reporting that Jenner’s transition would be the subject of the latest in the pantheon of Keeping Up With the Kardashians spinoffs, which also include Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami, Kourtney And Kim Take New York, Khloé & Lamar, Kourtney & Khloe Take The Hamptons, Dash Dolls, etc.
But the media’s screaming about the 1976 Olympic decathlon champion and his changing appearance rose a couple octaves when Sawyer nabbed the Jenner sit-down. First, there was Kim Kardashian telling Entertainment Tonight, “I think everyone goes through things in life” and that her stepfather would tell his story when he thought the timing was right.
The “right” timing, originally following this season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, might be redefined in the wake of the multi-vehicle accident early last month. Jenner was driving a Cadillac Escalade and towing an off-road vehicle along Pacific Coast Highway when he hit a Lexus from behind, according to police reports. The Lexus then veered into oncoming traffic and was hit head-on by a Hummer. The driver of the Lexus, Kim Howe, died at the scene. One passenger in the Hummer was seriously injured, according to police. Four other adults and two children also were hurt in the crash.
SEE ALSO: LA Sheriff: Paparazzi 'not considered to be a factor' in deadly Bruce Jenner crash
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