ABC News correspondent Gio Benitez, who identifies as gay, has been promoted to a permanent co-anchor on the weekend edition of “Good Morning America.”
ABC News correspondent Gio Benitez, who identifies as gay, has been promoted to a permanent co-anchor on the weekend edition of “Good Morning America.”
Benitez married ExtraTV correspondent Tommy DiDario in 2016. The couple celebrated their 7-year anniversary in April.
Benitez, 37, will join “Good Morning America” as co-anchor on Saturdays and Sundays, ABC News President Kim Godwin announced in a statement to the network’s news division.
Benitez joins co-anchors Whit Johnson and Janai Norman.
Gio Benitez expressed his excitement on Twitter.
“Grateful. Excited. Blown away. Cannot wait to spend each weekend morning with two of my dearest friends and the INCREDIBLE team at @GMA Saturday & Sunday!” he wrote.
DiDario, Gio Benitez’s husband, shared a photo on Twitter of the moment Benitez signed his contract for the promotion.
“The moment @giobenitez signed his contract to become the new Co-anchor of @GMA Saturday and Sunday. It’s been hard keeping this secret because I’ve been bursting with pride. The size of your talent is matched by the size of your heart. Congratulations, my anchorman,” he wrote.
ABC’s weekday afternoon version of “Good Morning America,” also called “GMA,” will be co-anchored by Eva Pilgrim and DeMarco Morgan, who took over approximately four months after Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes left the show when their romantic relationship was revealed.
In her note to staff, Godwin said she was “incredibly proud” of the reporting Pilgrim, Morgan, and Benitez have brought to ABC News.
Since 2020, Benitez has covered transportation at ABC News, including coverage of the aviation industry during the pandemic, space during America’s private space race, and the auto industry, Godwin said.
Benitez also covered the Pulse nightclub shooting, El Chapo’s escape from prison in Mexico, and the Boston Marathon bombing for the network.
Previously, Benitez was a reporter at WFOR-TV in Miami, his hometown.
