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Hoda Kotb Is Ready To Take On More Hours At ‘Today’ After Megyn Kelly’s Abrupt Exit (EXCLUSIVE)
Who needs soap operas when the Today show has so much daytime drama? Just a year after NBC fired Matt Lauer for sexual misconduct allegations, the network’s newest host, Megyn Kelly, who anchored the show’s 9 a.m. hour, made an unceremonious exit following her controversial comments about wearing blackface on Halloween. Will Hoda Kotb ride to the rescue again? Maybe!
“We are starting a new chapter in the third hour of our show as it evolves,” Hoda said on Oct. 29, as she and Al Roker filled in. But rather than signing another big-name host, the new show “is going to look a lot like the first two hours,” at least for now, sources exclusively told Closer Weekly in the magazine’s latest issue, on newsstands now. So expect to see Savannah Guthrie, Hoda, and Al back behind the anchor desk on the third hour. (Craig Melvin and Jenna Bush Hager are also expected to appear.)
Megyn left Fox News Channel for NBC in January 2017 with a reported $69 million contract. While she negotiates in an attempt to get what she’s owed on her contract, the morning show’s producers are forging ahead and restyling the studio that was built for Megyn Kelly Today.
“Eventually NBC is hoping to settle on a permanent single host, duo, or team,” the insider said. That may include Al, who had been co-hosting the hour before Megyn’s arrival. “He’s more than anxious to be coanchoring the show again,” the insider noted.
Hoda still co-hosts the fourth hour with Kathie Lee Gifford. If she’s called on to again steady the ship, “instead of feeling stretched thin, she’s raring to go,” said the insider. “She’d host all four hours if she could.”
In fact, despite the turmoil, the insider told Closer, “The executives, staff, and talent look at the new changes as the next step toward a brighter, better Today.”
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