Viewers of The Kelly Clarkson Show were left furious when Monday’s programme was dramatically pulled off the air without warning due to a breaking news alert about Donald Trump.
The hour-long program was interrupted nine minutes into the program when it was announced that the 78-year-old former president had chosen Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.
The unwelcome interruption came as Kelly, 42, played a never-before-seen clip of an interview with Justin Timberlake as part of her Best of Boy Bands special hour, and ahead of her chats with New Kids on the Block, Donnie and Mark Wahlberg, and Ricky Martin.
The show finally returned to the air after 16 minutes, but failed to pick up where it left off.
Frustrated fans took to social media to complain about the outage.
Kelly Clarkson’s show was taken off the air on Monday afternoon to make way for a special report on Donald Trump.
Trump, 78, announced that he has chosen Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate.
“There’s no way they would interrupt Kelly Clarkson’s show to tell us who Trump’s running mate would be,” one frustrated viewer wrote on X.
Another fumed: “They really just cut the Kelly Clarkson show out of nowhere for this Republican shit.”
A third said: ‘The one time @BiteMyTounge4LH and I try to watch Kelly Clarkson’s show for BTR, it cuts out.’
On Instagram, another begged NBC to take action and upload the full episode online.
They wrote: ‘Please upload the full, unreleased interview to the official YouTube channel of the Kelly Clarkson Show. It was interrupted on live TV for a special report.’
The news alert was presented by anchor Kristen Welker, 48, just days after Trump was attacked at a Republican rally in Pennsylvania.
“Good afternoon, we are on the air with breaking news,” he said.
‘Former President Donald Trump has made up his mind. He just posted on his social media platform that JD Vance will be his vice president. So the ticket will be Trump and Vance.
‘He has aligned himself with him consistently during that time.
‘The news comes just before the two are set to be formally nominated on the first day of the Republican national convention, less than 48 hours before the attempted assassination at their rally over the weekend and just hours after the documents case was thrown out by a judge in Florida.’
Trump left it until the last possible moment, using all his showmanship to keep the world in suspense, before opting for Vance, 39, after the Republican National Convention had already begun in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Frustrated fans took to social media to complain about the hiatus.
Kristen Welker (pictured) anchored the NBC News special alert, declaring that the Republican ticket will consist of Trump and Vance.
Trump revealed he had chosen Vance, 48, on Truth Social on Monday
He made his announcement on Truth Social, and posted it just as delegates were approving his nomination as a presidential candidate.
“JD has had a very successful business career in technology and finance, and now, during the campaign, he will focus strongly on the people he fought so brilliantly for, American workers and farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and far beyond,” he said.
Vance gained national attention when he published his bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, in 2016, the year Trump was elected president.
He has been a senator for less than two years, but has established himself as one of the most fervent defenders of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda, especially on foreign policy, trade and immigration.
The former venture capitalist and US Marine had initially criticized Trump.
He did not vote for Trump in 2016, tweeting at the time: “Oh my God, what an idiot.”
But sources close to the effort said it became increasingly politicized as the country’s elite institutions turned against Trump’s presidency even as he kept his promises.