Nischelle Turner Becomes First Black Female Host of ‘Entertainment Tonight’

Entertainment Tonight has named Nischelle Turner its nightly co-host alongside Kevin Frazier.

ET made the announcement on Thursday, saying Turner hopes to bring new energy to the show through her friendship with Frazier.

“Our chemistry is natural, it’s real. It’s nothing forced or manufactured. I think our viewers see that and they respond to it,” Turner said in a statement. “For him and I, it’s nothing really different. It’s just the conversations we have every day in our offices are what we’re bringing now to television. We’re just really, really excited about that.”

The Emmy Award-winning journalist will become the first Black woman to host the nightly broadcast in the show’s 40-year history.

“Being the first woman of color to anchor this show and follow in the footsteps of Mary Hart and Nancy O’Dell, those are big shoes to fill,” Turner said about the program’s previous co-hosts. “There are even bigger shoes to fill when I look at the legacy of Black women in this business who have paved the way for me.”

Turner posted the news about the promotion to her Instagram account and thanked women such as Oprah Winfrey, Jemele Hill, NBC Los Angeles reporter Beverly White, Mary Hart, and Nancy O’Dell for being “excellence personified” and “setting the table” for her to become the first Black woman to anchor ET.

“My gratitude is deep and my commitment to representing is strong. I’m gonna flood your timeline today cause the thank you’s will continue,” she captioned the post.

Turner first joined the entertainment news show as a correspondent in 2014, and has worked her way up to become the show’s weekend co-host. She recently hosted the show’s Golden Globes coverage along with Frazier.

She is a graduate of the University of Missouri’s school of journalism, and began her broadcasting career as a reporter at WEHT in Evansville, Indiana. She also worked at WVUE in New Orleans and KTTV in Los Angeles as a reporter for Good Day L.A. She worked as a sideline reporter for Fox’s Sunday NFL broadcasts and covered entertainment at CNN.