“Ryan [Seacrest] did not have any kind of stroke last night,” a rep for the American Idol host said in a statement to PEOPLE on Monday, May 18. This statement was in response to Ryan’s behavior towards the end of Sunday’s live finale. Right before crowning Samantha “Just Sam” Diaz the winner, Ryan seemed a bit off. His words sounded slightly slurred, and some fans thought his right eye appeared larger than his left. The situation caused many to express concern online, and these fears were doubled when Ryan was absent from Monday’s Live with Kelly and Ryan. However, Ryan’s rep reassured everyone that he’s doing okay.
“Like many people right now, Ryan is adjusting to the new normal and finding work-home balance, with the added stress of having to put on live shows from home,” Ryan’s rep said in the statement. “Between Live with Kelly and Ryan, American Idol, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, and the Disney Family Singalong specials, he has been juggling three to four on-air jobs over the last few weeks and he’s in need of rest,” adds the rep in the statement to PEOPLE. “So today he took a well-deserved day off.” So, put your concerns to rest. Ryan will be back on your television screens and iHeartRadio stations soon enough.
Ryan’s work ethic is renowned, and he has long had the reputation of being one of the hardest working men in show business. It seems that if there’s something that needs hosting, Ryan will do it. However, it appears that it all just caught up to him and he is now, finally, taking a well-earned break.
98% sure ryan seacrest had a stroke on live TV last night. he’s not on live with kelly this morning, either, which is…concerning pic.twitter.com/3j9R2bMbfm
— kim windyka (@kimlw) May 18, 2020
Earlier in the month, Ryan spoke to PEOPLE about maintaining his schedule during the COVID-19 outbreak, specifically the remote Idol finale. “We put the show together earlier in the week because there are so many factors to it,” he told PEOPLE about these part-live, part-recorded hybrid shows. “Every once in a while we have to be careful not to step on each other while we’re talking because there’s that delay that we’ve all experienced talking to our families at home on different Zooms and things like that.”