Giuliana Rancic returning to E! News in September as co-anchor

FILE – In this Sept. 16, 2016, file photo, Giuliana Rancic, TV host and best-selling author, hosts the Macy’s Presents Fashion’s Front Row event at Macy’s Aventura Mall in Miami. Rancic will return to E! News this September as co-host of its nightly news program with Jason Kennedy, three years after leaving the gig. She will replace Maria Menounos who left last July following surgery to remove a brain tumor. (Jesus Aranguren/AP Images for Macy’s, File)

NEW YORK — Giuliana Rancic will return to E! News this September as co-host of its nightly news program with Jason Kennedy, three years after leaving the gig.

She will replace Maria Menounos, who left last July following surgery to remove a brain tumor.

When Rancic left E! News, she stayed the network on as a co-host of its red-carpet coverage at award shows and on “Fashion Police,” which aired its series finale in 2017.

While anchoring E! News, Rancic’s likeability and humor landed her a reality series with her husband, winner of season one of “The Apprentice”, Bill Rancic. But she received backlash in 2015 when she critiqued Zendaya’s dreadlocks on a red carpet with what some believed were racist remarks.

Rancic apologized and said the full context of her comments were edited out. Months later she left E! News, though she was a guest host a handful of times.

The network was thrust into the Time’s Up conversation when correspondent Catt Sadler quit over a pay disparity with Kennedy.

E! said the two had different jobs and therefore were compensated differently. People was first to report Rancic’s return. MKH

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