‘Access Hollywood’ host Scott Evans gets emotional recalling impactful conversation with Chloe & Halle

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Scott Evans always knew he wanted to be in front of a camera, and now he’s fully living that dream.

As the co-host of Access Hollywood, Evans has interviewed almost every major celebrity you could think of, bringing his irresistible energy and charisma to every sit-down that he does. His approach to interviewing some of the world’s most famous people has made him one of their go-to hosts to talk to when promoting something new.

“I’m never looking for the headline. I’m never looking for the soundbite,” Evans told In The Know. “I’m looking for a genuine connection or vibe that will allow a person to be comfortable enough to be themselves.”

In the most recent episode of In The Know’s pop culture interview series, We Should Talk, Evans opened up about getting his start in sports broadcasting, what it was like getting Taylor Swift as his first ever assignment at Access Hollywood, a pivotal conversation with Chloe & Halle that changed everything for him and much more.

Listen to In The Know’s full interview with Scott Evans below, and keep reading for highlights from the interview:

On Chloe and Halle inspiring him to loc his hair: If you’re not being real or you’re not being true, it ain’t working. People see through that facade way faster now than they ever have before. [That] helped me hone in on who I want to become, who I want to be, who am I, what am I doing here? It helped me refine the purpose of all of this for myself, which helped inform my approach. When I got clear on that, a whole lot of stuff for me, personally, started changing. Even as recently as locing my hair in COVID. Deciding to, as a Black man on a flagship entertainment news program in primetime, allow my hair to grow in a way that it does out of my head in a dreadlock was a major, major choice. It was something I was really very nervous about. I had wanted to do it for years, but I’d never believed it was going to be while I was on air. I was having a conversation with Chloe & Halle and — wow, I didn’t expect to get emotional about that — they were like, “What are you waiting on? Sure, if it’s you pretending something, we can understand the discomfort or caution. But if you really feel like this is part of who you are truly, you’ve got to do it.”

On his first interview for Access Hollywood with Taylor Swift: I wasn’t even actually an Access Hollywood employee yet, but I had met with the team. […] We were supposed to be talking for seven minutes; we talked for 22 minutes. We talked about so much. At the end of the conversation, they finally cut us, because they realized, “Oh, he’s just going to keep going!” She grabs my hand — Taylor grabs my hand — and says, “Oh, my God! I’m so sorry. Did you get what you needed? I forgot that we were even interviewing. We were just talking, and it was so nice.” I was like, “Are we still rolling? Please tell me that we’re still rolling. This is the moment!” I think we have that footage, and I also have the voicemail that Tree [Paine], her publicist, and Taylor left for Nancy Harrison, who was the producer for the segment. The beautiful, sweet and kind voicemail that they left after our interview saying, “We don’t know where he came from, but any time y’all want to have an interview with us, we would want to do it with Scott. He’s our guy.” And I did become the Taylor Swift guy here at Access Hollywood. It was the thing that got me the gig.

On not going into an interview looking for a headline: I’m never looking for the headline. I’m never looking for the soundbite. I’m looking for a genuine connection or vibe that will allow a person to be comfortable enough to be themselves. At Access Hollywood, our team is also always like, “Scott, you make the moments! You’re the moment maker!” While that is a cool thing for that to be an interpretation of what I do, the reality is that it’s the story and the “Why we’re here.” It’s not always easy to have uncomfortable conversations with people who are — in a lot of cases — strangers. So, at that point, I just really rely on an authentic curiosity and the fact that I’m not ever trying to put someone in the position to say the wrong thing.

On his overall deal with NBCUniversal: The really beautiful thing was reading some of the write-ups about it and some of the other names of people who have had similar deals with NBC. To be associated in those groups with these really cool creatives and great people [Kelly Clarkson, Meghan Trainor, Jennifer Lopez]. I’m not mad to be counted among those few, [and] to be entrusted with bringing to market these stories and working with these storytellers who have something to say is a really cool thing. The way the deal works is there is a first-look overall deal, which means any project that we’re developing, NBC wants a first look at it. They’re like, “Bring it to us, because we believe in you, and we want to help bring your stories to market.” Then, the talent deal broadens my scope from Access Hollywood singularly to be added to any Comcast, Universal, NBC property with real intention.

Watch our full interview with Access Hollywood co-host Scott Evans below, and tune in to Access Hollywood every weeknight (check your local listings):

If you enjoyed this story, check out In The Know’s recent interview with the cast of Peacock’s “Everything I Know About Love” here!

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