Pope Francis may be known as the People’s Pope, but he was inadvertently the Grinch who stole airtime for some young New York singers.
Coverage of His Holiness on “Good Morning America” bumped some performers from “A Christmas Story, the Musical” off the No. 1-rated morning show on Tuesday.
We’re told about a dozen members of the holiday musical playing at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden were booked to perform a tune live on “GMA.” But the cast was informed over the weekend that because of “brewing news in Europe,” their spot would have to be rescheduled.
Turns out “GMA” aired coverage of Christmas celebrations from the Vatican — where “GMA” co-hosts Robin Roberts and Josh Elliot were in a crowd of hundreds being greeted by the pontiff in St. Peter’s Square.
“We ended up having to shuffle a lot of what was on the show Tuesday and Wednesday because of the Vatican City trip, so that’s why we moved them,” an ABC rep told us. “GMA” staffers asked the “Christmas Story” crew if they’d tape their song to air later in the week. They obliged and it will be on “GMA” Friday morning.