Matt Lauer Talks Ann Curry 'TODAY' Exit for the First Time, 'Did Not Help Us' He Admits (WATCH VIDEO)
Matt Lauer discussed Ann Curry's TODAY show departure for the first time in an exclusive interview.
Lauer, 55, opened up about Curry's late June 2012 tearful exit, which led to her being replaced by Savannah Guthrie.
"I don't think the show and the network handled the transition well. You don't have to be Einstein to know that," Lauer told The Daily Beast. "It clearly did not help us. We were seen as a family, and we didn't handle a family matter well."
Several sources told the website that the TODAY anchor tried to convince his bosses to not move Curry to the smaller, more reduced role she was re-assigned to: NBC News national and international correspondent. Lauer met Curry for lunch prior to her exit and told her she wasn't his first choice for co-anchor but "that was in the past," according to an insider.
During that lunch meeting the pair discussed that if she was let go from the show, they knew the network would "take a hit" in the ratings department. Lauer also suggested that Curry meet with Steve Burke, the chief executive of NBC Universal, to find another solution besides removing her from the once No.1 morning show program.
NBC News' former president Steve Capus told The Daily Beast that Lauer suggested that the network "go slow" and "do the right things" in regards Curry.
"When Matt was informed that we had made this decision, his good counsel was to go slow, to take care of Ann, and to do the right things," Capus said. "He was quietly and publicly a supporter of Ann's throughout the entire process. It is unfair that Matt has shouldered an undue amount of blame for a decision he disagreed with."
Burke revealed that Lauer personally paid a visit to him last fall and said, "if you think the show's better off without me, let me know, and I'll get out of the way."
Burke said he wouldn't accept Lauer's offer to walk away from NBC, saying, "You're the best person who's ever done this. We'll get through this."
