Exclusive | ABC’s George Stephanopoulos was repeatedly warned not to use the word ‘rape’ by the producer – but said it anyway: sources

George Stephanopoulos was repeatedly told by his executive producer not to “use the word rape” before going on air to discuss Donald Trump, but the ABC News anchor ignored the warning — a decision that cost the network $16 million, The Post learned.

Parent company Disney’s capitulation last week in Trump’s defamation suit against ABC News and Stephanopoulos shocked the media and legal experts, but the damning revelation may help explain why Mouse House CEO Bob Iger signed the deal so quickly.

The “This Week” host said Trump was “responsible for rape” while discussing the civil lawsuit won by journalist E. Jean Carroll during an interview with Republican lawmaker Nancy Mace in March.

“The ‘This Week’ producer said ‘don’t use the word rape’ before the segment started,” a network source told The Post. “PE [executive producer] said it so many times.”

A second source at the show confirmed via a text message seen by The Post that Stephanopoulos had been warned “not to say rape.”

Disney’s chances of winning the lawsuit would be hurt if Stephanopoulos ignored his producer’s warning, legal experts told The Post.

Often, when dealing with litigation, the company’s legal team may speak with producers ahead of time to advise on language to avoid lawsuits, which is common in the media industry.

However, it is unclear whether ABC’s legal team was involved before Stephanopoulos went on air.

ABC News declined to comment. Representatives for Disney and Stephanopoulos did not return requests for comment.

Iger agreed to the deal late Friday — hours after Florida Judge Cecilia Altonaga rejected a request to delay the case and ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for hours-long depositions just days before Christmas, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

The judge also ordered Disney to turn over emails and text messages sent to and from Stephanopoulos by Sunday — which could have forced the media mogul’s hand if the damning text messages were to emerge, according to the Times.

Disney’s lead attorney, Horacio Gutierrez, asked Iger to settle the suit rather than risk a civil trial before a jury in the president-elect’s home state, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.

Iger also worried that fighting the case could “risk undermining press protections” and “damage the Disney brand,” according to the Times.

If Disney were to suffer a negative outcome in the US district court in Florida, the company feared the potential consequences of an appeal to the Supreme Court given the current right-leaning 6-3 majority.

According to the Journal, Disney was concerned that appealing an unfavorable decision to the Supreme Court would have increased the risk of a possible overturning of New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 decision that gave the press comprehensive protection against libel suits.

Sources also told The Post that one factor playing into Iger’s thinking is that he didn’t want a lawsuit hanging over his company’s flagship television property ahead of a potential sale.

The settlement awarded $15 million to the Trump presidential foundation and museum and another $1 million for Trump’s attorney fees.

As part of the settlement, Stephanopoulos was forced to apologize — which left the reporter “apoplectic” and “humiliated,” The Post exclusively reported Tuesday — in an article headlined: “Furious George.”

A source said ABC News staffers are now calling Stephanopoulos “mad George” behind his back. They’re also wondering how the star anchor can now cover the incoming Trump administration.

“Everyone seems to be asking that question except ABC brass,” the source said.

Trump first filed the lawsuit in March.

Days later, the anchor went on CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and reaffirmed his claim that “rape” was an appropriate word to use, based on comments made by the judge in the New York case.

“I will not be discouraged from doing my job because of the threat,” Stephanopoulos said of Trump’s lawsuit.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing against Carroll, but last year a New York court found him liable for sexual assault over allegations that he molested her in a store in 1996 and later defamed her in his statements. where he denied her accusations.