Tamron Hall Exits NBC After Network Replaces ‘Today’ Hour With Megyn Kelly
Today anchor Tamron Hall has resigned from both NBC and MSNBC, the Hollywood Reporter confirmed via the network today (February 1). Hall's departure comes on the heels of another announcement, that former Fox news anchor Megyn Kelly would replace her and co-host Al Roker in the 9 am hour of The Today Show. NBC has jumped into the Megyn Kelly business with both feet, signing Kelly to a deal that will find her hosting her own daytime show as well as a Sunday night news program.
Hall won an Emmy in 2010 for NBC News'The Inauguration of Barack Obama, and was nominated in 1999 and 2011. Roker will continue to host the third hour of Today until Kelly's show joins a revamped morning lineup. THR reports that Hall's contract with the network was set to expire this month.
And while Hall's departure has caused speculation and variations of a narrative on Twitter that pits Hall and Kelly against each other — as people so often seem eager to do when a woman, especially two women, are involved in a high-profile professional situation — according to US Weekly, the fault for Hall's abrupt exit falls largely on a bad corporate decision in delivering the news. NBC only told the long-respected Hall was just told "minutes before going on air Friday that she and Al [Roker] were being taken off the show for Megyn Kelly," a source tells the magazine.
Much like ABC neglected to inform a certain morning host that her copilot was exiting until just before showtime, NBC may have...Kelly Ripa'd her, if you will.
"She was a wreck in commercial breaks and couldn't believe the company would tell her just before going live on MSNBC," the source told Us of Hall's reaction to the bombshell. "It was especially surprising after receiving an email of praise from the co-executive producer just days before about how they were #1 in the ratings for 7 weeks in a row."
"The last 10 years have been beyond anything I could have imagined, and I’m grateful," Hall said in a statement after her Tuesday exit. "I'm also very excited about the next chapter. To all my great colleagues, I will miss you and I will be rooting for you."
See reactions to Tamron Hall's NBC departure and the Today reshuffle, including those from The Tonight Show's Questlove and The Wire and Selma actor Wendell Pierce, below.
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