SEVERAL broadcasters’ morning show tenures have unceremoniously ended with abrupt firings.
It’s not uncommon for a network to part ways with a news anchor, but the circumstances surrounding the firing and the events leading up to it can in itself be headline-worthy.
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Tamron Hall at the Rob Thomas concert on NBC’s Today at Rockefeller Plaza on August 24, 2015, in New York CityCredit: Getty
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Ann Curry speaks onstage at the Chasing The Cure panel at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 24, 2019, in Beverly HillsCredit: Getty
While some television journalists have rebounded to other shows or into different broadcasting paths, others have had their careers come to a screeching halt due to the reasons behind their dismissal.
From workplace affairs to controversial on-air remarks, here are the messiest morning show firings.
TAMRON HALL
Tamron Hall, 53, worked as a national news correspondent for NBC News, a daytime anchor for MSNBC, and hosted MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall and co-hosted Today’s Take, the third hour of Today with Al Roker.
On February 24, 2014, Hall premiered as co-anchor of Today’s Take, the third hour of Today with Roker, Natalie Morales, and Willie Geist, becoming the first black woman to co-anchor Today.
In February 2017, Hall was in the process of renegotiating her contract with NBC when reports surfaced that her and Al’s morning show slot would be filled by Megyn Kelly following the journalist’s tenure at Fox.
“I go into work one day. I left fired. ‘Demoted’ I guess is what they called it. I called it fired,” Hall told Entertainment Tonight in September 2019.
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Television host and author Tamron Hall pictured talking about her latest book at the 2024 National Book Festival on August 24, 2024, in Washington, DCCredit: Getty
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Carson Daly, Tamron Hall, Al Roker, Savannah Guthrie, Matt Lauer, Natalie Morales, Willie Geist, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Hoda Kotb appear on NBC News’ Today showCredit: Getty
Hall opted out of her contract and decided to leave NBC rather than take a lesser role and on February 1, 2017, NBC News and Hall released a joint statement confirming Hall’s decision to depart from NBC and MSNBC.
“The last 10 years have been beyond anything I could have imagined and I’m grateful,” Hall said at the time of the announcement.
She continued, “To all my great colleagues, I will miss you and I will be rooting for you.”
Hall currently hosts The Tamron Hall Show, a talk show produced and distributed by Disney Entertainment Distribution.
Amy Robach reveals she’ll never return to GMA3 without TJ Holmes one year after firing over secret ‘affair’
It debuted on September 9, 2019, in first-run syndication on ABC Owned Television Stations and local stations across the United States and Canada.
ANN CURRY
Ann Curry, 67, joined NBC News in 1990, first as the NBC News Chicago correspondent and then as the anchor of NBC News at Sunrise from 1991 to 1996.
She served as a substitute news anchor for Matt Lauer, 66, from 1994 to 1997 at Today before serving as a news anchor at The Today Show, becoming the program’s second-longest serving news anchor, behind longtime host, Frank Blair, from 1997 to 2011.
Curry was named co-anchor of Dateline NBC with Stone Phillips, 69, and remained the primary anchor when Phillips left on July 2, 2007.
In June 2012, Curry became the national and international correspondent anchor for NBC News and the anchor at large for the Today Show.
Not long after, reports surfaced that Curry would be replaced as Today’s co-host.
Curry hired attorney Robert Barnett to represent her in her discussions with NBC but on June 28, Curry announced in an emotional broadcast on the show that she was leaving Today.
The ordeal was rumored to have been caused, in part, by a lack of chemistry between herself and her co-host, Lauer.
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Ann Curry pictured at the Build Series to discuss the medical series Chasing the Cure on July 30, 2019, in New York CityCredit: Getty
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Former Today co-anchors Ann Curry and Matt LauerCredit: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via
At the time, some reports claimed Lauer had even played a part in forcing Curry out.
And while Lauer has never taken the blame, partial or otherwise for Curry’s firing, both Vulture and New York Magazine did in-depth features that portrayed Lauer as one of the puppeteers behind his co-host’s dismissal.
Eight years later, in a 2020 interview with Elle, Curry admitted that her departure from Today “still hurts.”
“I still don’t really understand,” she said about her firing, adding, “I know I did nothing wrong. I know I was good at my job.”
Curry’s departure has also led to discussions about racism, as she was one of the most prominent Asian-American journalists on the national stage.
MEGYN KELLY
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Megyn Kelly at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2018 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on October 2, 2018, in Laguna Niguel, CaliforniaCredit: Getty
Megan Kelly, 53, joined NBC in 2017 after over a decade-long tenure on Fox News.
Her daytime talk show Megyn Kelly Today, which premiered In September 2017, replaced Today’s Take, hosted by Tamron Hall and Al Roker, as the third hour of NBC’s national morning show Today.
A year after her show’s premiere, during the October 23, 2018 episode, Kelly participated in a panel discussion on the appropriateness of blackface in Halloween costumes.
Blackface is defined as dark makeup worn to mimic the appearance of a Black person and especially to mock or ridicule Black people, according to Merriam-Webster.
The origins of blackface date back to the minstrel shows of the mid-19th century where white performers darkened their skin with polish and cork, put on tattered clothing, and exaggerated their features to look stereotypically “Black,” per CNN.
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Megyn Kelly seen hosting Megyn Kelly Today on Monday, February 12, 2018Credit: Getty
During the segment, Kelly recalled, “When I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up as like a character,” adding, “Luann de Lesseps wants to look like Diana Ross for one day, and I don’t know how that got racist on Halloween.”
The Real Housewives of New York City alum Luann de Lesseps, 59, used skin-darkening spray the year prior when dressing up as Diana Ross for Halloween.
Kelly was immediately met with criticism for on-air remarks about blackface and after receiving backlash for her comments, the TV journalist issued an internal email apologizing for her seeming defense of the practice the same day.
Three days later, on October 26, 2018, NBC canceled Megyn Kelly Today.
Her employment was officially terminated on January 11, 2019, and she was paid the $30 million due for the remainder of her contract.
MATT LAUER
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Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today at Rockefeller Plaza on September 29, 2017Credit: Getty
Starting in 1994, Matt Lauer worked as a news anchor on Today before making the move from the news desk to the host’s chair in 1997.
He then served as the co-host of Today from 1997 to 2017.
While working at NBC, Lauer hosted the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade coverage and co-hosted the opening ceremonies of several Olympic Games.
In November 2017, Lauer’s contract was terminated by the network after NBC received “a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.”
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Matt Lauer as seen on the set of Today on Tuesday, November 21, 2017, shortly before his final episodeCredit: Getty
NBC had “reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”
On November 29, 2017, NBC News announced that Lauer’s employment had been terminated after an unidentified female NBC employee reported that Lauer had sexually harassed her during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and that the harassment continued after they returned to New York.
Andrew Lack, chairman of NBC News, sent a memorandum to his staff that said, in part, “On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer.
“While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”
Lauer’s last day on air was November 28, 2017.
ROB MARCIANO
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Former GMA Host Rob Marciano at a Lady Antebellum performance on ABC’s Good Morning America at Rumsey Playfield on July 14, 2017, in New York CityCredit: Getty
Meteorologist Rob Marciano, 56, was employed by ABC News from August 2014 until April 2024.
The former Entertainment Tonight co-anchor provided forecasts for the weekend editions of Good Morning America after Ginger Zee, 43, was chosen to succeed Sam Champion as the weather person on the daily editions of GMA.
Marciano had a history of “anger management issues” and alleged “inappropriate behaviors” and was fired from ABC News on April 30, 2024.
The TV personality’s “heated screaming match” with a GMA producer was reportedly the “last straw” at the network, per the Daily Beast.
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Rob Marciano on Good Morning America on May 24, 2016Credit: Getty
Reportedly, Zee brought the word of the alleged outburst to the attention of ABC’s higher-ups.
An insider told Page Six that Zee “encouraged the producer to talk to management” and “followed up” to make sure Marciano was held accountable for his questionable workplace behavior.
In addition to his ongoing reported anger management issues, Marciano tended to overshare information about his divorce with female staffers, making them uncomfortable.
The journalist split from his wife, Eryn Marciano, in 2021 – they finalized their divorce in 2023.
AMY ROBACH & TJ HOLMES
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TJ Holmes and Amy Robach pictured hosting GMA3: What You Need To Know on Tuesday, October 5, 2021Credit: Getty
Amy Robach and TJ Holmes were fired from GMA3: What You Need To Know by ABC after the co-hosts’ affair was made public in November 2022.
Robach, 51, worked as the co-anchor of 20/20 and as a fill-in anchor for Good Morning America.
She became the host of Pandemic: What You Need to Know – which was created in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and would later become GMA3: What You Need to Know.
Robach co-hosted GMA3 from September 2020 to December 2022.
From September 2014 to January 2023, TJ Holmes, 47, was employed by ABC News as a correspondent and anchor.
On September 21, 2020, the former CNN reporter joined GMA3 as co-anchor.
In the months following the news of Robach and Holmes’ affair, ABC deliberated on how to handle the scandal, as the daytime TV anchors were still married to other people when their relationship began.
Robach was married to actor Andrew Shue when the news of her romance leaked to the public while Holmes was still hitched to Marilee Fiebig.
The former anchors have remained romantically involved, despite being booted from their gigs at ABC in January 2023.
On December 5, 2023, the former GMA hosts launched a podcast, Amy & TJ, on iHeartRadio.
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Amy Robach on the set of GMA on February 15, 2021, in New York CityCredit: Getty
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Amy Robach and TJ Holmes at the 2022 ABC Disney Upfront at Basketball City on May 17, 2022, in New York CityCredit: Getty
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TJ Holmes and Amy Robach at the iHeartRadio Z100’s Jingle Ball 2023 at Madison Square Garden on December 8, 2023Credit: Getty
