Kotb to replace Lauer as co-host of NBC’s ‘Today’
Hoda Kotb, a longtime NBC News correspondent, will permanently replace Matt Lauer as co-anchor of NBC’s flagship morning program, “Today.”
Hoda Kotb, a longtime NBC News correspondent, will permanently replace Matt Lauer as co-anchor of NBC’s flagship morning program, “Today,” the network said Tuesday.
Kotb (pronounced COTbee) had replaced Lauer on an interim basis since he was fired in November over allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior with a subordinate. Lauer is among the most highprofile names to have been ousted in a national reckoning over sexual harassment in the workplace, along with Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly.
The appointment is the first time that two women will be the program’s official main hosts; “Today” has an overwhelmingly female audience and is the network’s most profitable franchise.
The decision signals a turning point of sorts for NBC: In addition to the Lauer scandal, the network also reviewed 2005 footage from an NBC-owned show in which Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitalia but was beaten to publication by the Washington Post, and passed on an exposé of Weinstein by an MSNBC contributor.
Savannah Guthrie, the show’s other anchor, announced the news of Kotb’s appointment during Tuesday’s broadcast.
“We are kicking off the year right, because Hoda is officially the co-anchor of ‘Today,’” Guthrie said, sitting next to Kotb. “This has to be the most popular decision NBC News has ever made, and I am so thrilled.”
Kotb, 53, responded: “I am pinching myself.”
For more than 20 years, millions of people tuned in to see Lauer in the morning, as well as on an array of major NBC programs, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Winter and Summer Olympics, and a primetime forum in which Trump faced off with Hillary Clinton.
Now, they will be greeted by Guthrie, who has been a “Today” anchor since 2012, and Kotb, who joined NBC News in 1998 as a correspondent for “Dateline.” She took over as the co-host of the fourth hour of “Today” in 2008, and was rushed in as an emergency substitute host on the morning of Lauer’s firing.
In an interview with People magazine, Kotb said that NBC executives offered her the permanent position just before the holidays.
Also Tuesday, Vice has suspended two top executives after a New York Times report on sexual misconduct at the digital media company.
Vice Media put its president, Andrew Creighton, and chief digital officer Mike Germano on leave as it investigates allegations against them, according to a company memo sent to employees Tuesday. A Vice spokesman declined to comment.
The Times had reported in late December that it found four settlements involving allegations of sexual harassment or defamation against Vice employees, including Creighton. The newspaper talked with more than two dozen women who say they experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct, including groping and forced kisses.
Vice Media co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi have apologized for the “boy’s club” culture.