Fashion Police has tapped Melissa Rivers, the daughter of the late Joan Rivers, as it’s new co-host, E! announced Wednesday (June 17).
Rivers will join returning co-hosts Giuliana Rancic and Brad Goreski when the series returns on Aug. 31. In addition to the late Joan, who died last September, her daughter fills the void left by Kelly Osbourne and Kathy Griffin. The two exited shortly after controversial comments Rancic made on the show in February about actress Zendaya‘s dreadlocks.
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Fashion Police, which will produce six new episodes, will also include two rotating celebrity chairs.
Although this will be her first stint as a co-host on Fashion Police, Melissa has years of experiencing covering red carpets alongside her mother for E! as well as TV Guide Network. She has also served as an executive producer on Fashion Police since the show’s inception in 2010.
“As an executive producer since the beginning, Melissa helped shape Fashion Police into an iconic TV series that couples fashion with comedy,” said Jeff Olde, executive vp programming and development, E!. “We are pleased to now also feature Melissa in front of the Fashion Police cameras, as she joins returning panelists Giuliana and Brad. And with the added flavor of rotating panelists, the show will deliver fresh, different and unpredictable fashion reviews with each new episode.”
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Added Melissa: “I’m very excited to be given the opportunity to continue to work with my E! and Fashion Police family.”
In the wake of Rancic’s comments and the two exits, three episodes of Fashion Police were scrapped and the show was put an extended hiatus. In addition to Rancic, who suggested that Zendaya’s dreadlocks “smelled like patchouli oil … or weed,” Fashion Police had faced other controversies in the months prior including public backlash to the network’s “mani cam.”
NBCUniversal Lifestyle Networks Group president Frances Berwick told THR in March, “To the extent that this has all gotten very intense and serious — it’s meant to be fun,” she says. “When it stops being fun or if we think that we’re offending or crossing a line, absolutely, that’s the time to re-evaluate.”
In addition to co-hosting, Melissa will continue to serve as an executive producer along with Lisa Bacon. Fashion Police is produced by Wilshire Studios.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.