Today Show host Savannah Guthrie was forced to deliver the incredible news about her accused sexual predator co-host, while Hoda Kotb sat by and did her best to offer her support. The very unpopular Kelly took what staffers told the Daily Mail was a “smug” approach to the firing of Matt Lauer.  

Staffers at The Today Show have expressed their disgust and outrage at Megyn Kelly for her smug, self-aggrandizing display and insensitivity to her distraught colleagues in the wake of Matt Lauer’s firing.

Insiders at the show told DailyMail.com that if she had a public comment to make she should have focused on the accuser and the Today team who are devastated by by the allegation surrounding Lauer and his firing, which came late Tuesday night.

Instead, Kelly used her platform on her show Wednesday to say: ‘This one does hit close to home. I too have known Matt for a long time and he has been a friend and kind and supportive to me in my transition to NBC News.’

And later that day, at a media event in Manhattan, she hailed his firing as ‘a sign of progress.’

Her Today Show colleagues are outraged.

‘We work in an industry of egos but this is the most opportunistic thing we’ve ever seen,’ said one staffer.

‘We now have the highest paid person at NBC News hosting one of the lowest rating shows, and rather than being humble, she takes the first opportunity to take the spotlight and make it all about her and what she knew.

‘Our team is hurting and the newest member of the team who is yet to prove herself is out and about making public comments that she truly has no knowledge of.’

All day members of the Today show were crying and distraught, staffers told DailyMail.com.

‘But rather than sticking around and spending time with the staff, Megyn made sure she was the center of attention.

‘No one wanted Megyn here, she was forced upon us and today reinforced why she will never be a member of the Today family.’

Savannah, Hoda, and Al showed grace and class, colleagues said. They were shell-shocked and tried to strike the balance of reporting on someone they had known for years and considered a friend, while also showing respect for the accuser who made a very difficult decision to file a formal complaint against the most powerful person at NBC News – effectively changing the face of the Today Show forever.

Hoda and Savannah discuss the disturbing and shocking news of Guthrie’s Today Show co-host, Matt Lauer.

A staffer said: ‘Megyn, on the other hand, saw this as an opportunity to mark her territory within NBC News. Yet she failed and she’s now lost the support of everyone.

‘And here’s something we’d like to say about her – she’s terrible on morning television, her show is terrible, her staff thinks she is terrible, in fact, her show should be called Terrible with Megyn Kelly.

‘They were right over at Fox News, she deserves the nickname ‘Me-Again’ – as it is all about her even though she fails to see that the viewers don’t like her.’

Megyn admitted hearing ‘rumors’ about Matt Lauer’s alleged sexual misconduct before he was fired on Tuesday but said she hoped they ‘weren’t true’.

The NBC host was speaking at Business Insider’s IGNITION media event when she made the revelation on Wednesday, hours after addressing Lauer’s shock firing on her own morning show.

She denied having any ‘official knowledge’ of Lauer’s alleged wrongdoing but said she knew reporters were ‘sniffing’ around ‘the issue’.

She also boasted about knowing ahead of time that CBS veteran journalist Charlie Rose was due to be exposed for alleged misconduct too.

‘I didn’t have any official knowledge but because of the work I do and the stories I cover and the connections I have in the industry, I have a general feel for – I knew the Charlie Rose thing was coming – and I’d heard rumors about Matt but that’s all they were.

‘My feeling on it was a rumor is not the same as reportable fact. I knew people were sniffing around the issue and, you know, hoped it wasn’t true,’ she said.

News of Lauer’s departure dominated the network’s morning shows and Kelly, who was brought on in January from Fox, did not shy away from the topic.

Lauer, 59, was fired on Tuesday night as a result of his alleged sexual assault of a colleague while they were working on the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

‘This one does hit close to home. I, too, have known Matt for a long time. And he’s been a friend and kind and supportive to me in my transition to NBC news.

‘And I see the anguish on my colleague’s faces. But when this happens, what we don’t see is the pain on the faces of those who found the courage to come forward.

‘And it is a terrifying thing to do,’ she said.

Kelly, 47, later harkened back to her time at Fox News, ‘another news network where this happened’ and vowed, like Guthrie and Kotb, to push on with their coverage of scandal despite their personal connections to it.

‘We don’t see the career opportunities women lose because of sexual harassment or the intense stress it causes a woman dealing with it when she comes to work each day.

‘I am thinking of those women this morning and hoping they are okay. The days to come will not be easy.
‘We are in the middle of a sea change in this country.

‘An empowerment revolution, in which women, who for years felt they had no choice but to deal with being harassed at work, are now starting to picture another reality.

‘To feel that change is within their grasp.’

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5132803/Today-staff-throw-shade-Megyn-Kelly-Lauer-firing.html#ixzz4zxmem3Ei
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