Hmmm, what are you insinuating, Kelly Ripa?
The Live! With Kelly and Michael star injected what appeared to be a not-so-inside joke relating to her and co-host Michael Strahan's recent drama during an animal segment on the show Thursday.
Wildlife expert Peter Gros from the Animal Planet show Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom brought some unusual friends with him, including a screaming hairy armadillo, who shrieked throughout the show.
"The reason he's screaming is he is small," he told Ripa and Strahan. "He has no defense, no teeth. When a predator comes along, he squares it away with his scream."
"He's about to scare me away, I tell you that," Strahan said.
"I want to take him into contract negotiations with me," Ripa later said, laughing and spurring laughs from the crowd.
Strahan did not appear amused.
"He always gets his way with the predators," Gros added.
Last week, after a taping of Live!, ABC executives and Strahan informed Ripa he would be leaving the show after four years. She was "livid" about being kept in the dark, which was just hours before a press release was sent out publicly.
Ripa stayed away from Live! for four weekdays. ABC executives later reportedly apologized to Ripa and "expressed regret for the way Kelly was told the news." The network has not commented.
Ripa reunited with Strahan on Live! Tuesday, during which she said the issue started a much greater conversation about communication and consideration and, most importantly, respect in the workplace. She also said she was "thrilled" for Strahan.
"You know, I gotta you, he's very pungent," Ripa said about the armadillo.
"He's got a nice smell," Strahan added.
"Yes, it's on my face," Ripa continued. "Oh, thank you, screaming armadillo."