The Sunday Telegraph recently reported that the 44-year-old will be "axed" from the morning news show and replaced in the new year. The publication claimed that, "Top-level sources at Channel 9's Willoughby studios say the embattled Today host is officially 'gone'."
However, Karl took to Instagram on Sunday night to break his silence on the rumours. Posting an image of himself with his fiancée Jasmine Yarbrough, friend Chris Waller, and brother Peter Stefanovic, the host appeared to brush off the rumours. Alongside the image he claimed that his friends and family were the most important aspects of his life by writing the caption, "I'm incredibly grateful for the family and friends I have in this world. It’s all that matters really. I’m so proud of them."
There has been a lot of talk around Karl's personal life in the last few years. His marriage of 21 years to Cassandra Thorburn came to an end in 2016 and he rebounded with 34-year-old Jasmine shortly afterwards. He was also the centre of an 'Ubergate' scandal where he was overheard talking negatively about his co-host Georgie Gardner.
Media analyst Steve Allen claims that the key demographic of Today "basically now think [Karl] is an a**hole," reported The Sunday Telegraph.
"Here you have his ex-wife who supported him and raised his kids and she’s left out in the cold while he is off with his younger girlfriend in various exotic locations on holidays every other week," he further explained.
Allen also claimed that Channel Nine would be in "complete denial" if they thought there were other reasons for the decline in viewership.
Yahoo 7 has reported that executive producer Mark Calvert has described Karl as a "bloody great broadcaster," and that the station is "the first to acknowledge our ratings are not as good right now as we would like."
