Michael Strahan threw a jab at his Good Morning America co-star Robin Roberts several times, reminding her of a previous moment from her life.
Although he wisely did so thousands of miles away from New York City, his GMA co-star warned him afterward.
While Robin was at GMA’s NYC studio with co-anchor George Stephanopoulos, Michael appeared live on-screen from Vatican City.
The former football star presented live reports and coverage following the recent death of Pope Francis.
In one of his reports, Michael mentioned Robin meeting Pope Francis in 2013, while he did not.
That also included a joke calling back to Robin’s meeting, which prompted Michael’s GMA co-stars to call him out.
Robin responded to Michael’s insult jab on GMA
“Yeah, it’s not my first time, Robin, as I know you’ve been here before. I didn’t get to meet the pope as you did when you proclaimed that you were from America,” he said, accentuating the “r” to mimic his co-star when she met the pope years ago.
“Oh man!” Robin said from the GMA studio while Michael was still speaking.
The delay eventually caught up with him, so he stopped momentarily.
“I love you, Robin. I had to do it,” Michael told her, grinning.
Later in his report, Michael told Robin, “I had to throw that reference in about America.”
“Three times,” George said as he smiled at Robin.
“You know I love you, Robin,” Michael said again, adding, “I don’t know how I would’ve reacted if I saw the pope.”
“Oh no, no, no, no, no. Don’t try to clean it up now. Don’t try to clean it up,” she told Michael.
“Usually, he’s sitting next to me, giving me a hard time. Even across the pond,” Robin said to George.
Robin praised Michael and the team for their coverage from Vatican City. Michael attempted to smooth things over by praising them as part of the team.
“Now I’m throwing it back to you guys in Amer-ica,” he said, sliding in the jab once more.
Robin joked that Michael was “digging himself out of that hole,” or at least trying his best to.
The GMA co-stars have a fun friendship as co-workers. A week ago, Michael warned Robin about his phone during their interaction in a humorous social media video for GMA.
Robin recalled her chance to ‘redeem’ herself with Pope Francis
A Good Morning America Instagram post shared that Robin met Pope Francis twice.
In 2013, Robin was in Vatican City with her former GMA co-star Josh Elliott. While shaking Pope Francis’s hand, Robin told the pope she was from America, rather than saying her name.
Robin said that her first meeting only lasted a few seconds as Pope Francis was “just nine months into his papacy.”
“Pray for me,” Pope Francis told her after she shared she was from America.
“Every day. Every day I pray for you,” Robin told the pope.
After the throwback clip, GMA cameras cut back to the studio to show Robin sitting between Michael and George at the desk, smiling and laughing.
“I did have a chance to redeem myself,” Robin told them, adding, “I had the honor of meeting the pope a second time.”
In 2016, Robin attended a conference hosted by the Vatican to discuss stem cell therapies for healing diseases.
A photo showed Robin shaking the pope’s hand with her sister, Sally Ann Roberts, and Sally Ann’s husband beside her. Robin shared that her wife, Amber Laign, was also along for that trip.
“For the Vatican to host something like that is incredible,” she told her co-stars, before joking, “My name isn’t America.”