Josh Elliott Opens Up About His Departure from ‘GMA,' Working with NBC Sports

“Extra” special correspondent Charissa Thompson caught up with Josh Elliott at the Kentucky Derby this weekend, where Elliott talked about why he left “Good Morning America” for NBC Sports.

Elliott explained, “I had wonderful offer from ABC on the table and I had a wonderful offer from NBC Sports on the table. There wasn’t a bad choice. It was just going to be which great choice was best for me… this was a great thing for me in the end to do,” adding he was “over the moon happy.”

He was excited to be in Kentucky covering the Derby for NBC Sports. “The great thing about this, and really the reason I came to NBC Sports in the end, is that sports are treated like events and the stories, they dive into them with a zeal.” Josh was also really looking forward to covering the Olympics. “I would be lying if I didn’t say that I had my eye on a certain city in Brazil in a couple years.”

Josh also talked about the media hullabaloo that followed his exit from "GMA." “What happened in the immediate aftermath of my departure… was interesting for me to see. This very deeply personal choice of mine becomes almost a bit player in this grander melodrama, 99 percent of which was just whole cloth fiction. It became good reading for me.”

Thompson asked Josh which headline was false. He laughed, “I don’t know that we have enough time to work through them all. I left dear, dear friends at ABC News, people I talk to still several times a week, but I needed to come to this because I didn’t want to look back and say to myself, ‘Wow you could have done that.’”

Elliott added his relationship with ABC is good. “Look, they made a great offer and I understand that finding the right team on any ensemble show is paramount. I understand that as hard as it was for me to leave, I root for them every day.”

As for speculation that Josh may end up on the “Today Show,” possibly taking over for Matt Lauer, Josh made it clear he is an NBC Sports employee only. “None of that is going to happen, unless the ‘Today Show’ becomes under the aegis of NBC Sports. I came here to be a part of a great team.”