Cynthia Erivo handed Hoda Kotb a bouquet of white flowers in celebration of Hoda’s last Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade as a host. It comes after Hoda announced she was leaving the Today show

Cynthia Erivo gave Hoda Kotb her flowers, both figuratively and literally, at the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Organized by Macy’s with support from other corporate sponsors, the 2024 Thanksgiving Day parade began at 8:30 a. m. EST, with a repeat telecast at 2 p. m. EST. Today’s Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Hoda Kotb hosted the event. This year happened to also be Hoda’s last time hosting the parade, since she announced that she would be leaving the Today show starting on January 10, 2025.

After Kylie Minogue’s performance, Hoda, Savannah and Al welcomed Wicked star Cynthia to the host table. Hoda expressed her love for the talented actress but before she could ask her about the anticipated movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, Cynthia wanted to do something special for Hoda.

She told Hoda: “Before you even begin, these flowers are for you because I know that this is the last Thanksgiving parade you’re doing and I wanted to celebrate that and I wanted to say we love you.” She continued: “Thank you for all the hard work you’ve done all of these years.”

Hoda announced she was leaving the Today show
Cynthia handed the white bouquet flowers to Al then passed it to Savannah so an emotional Hoda was able to grab them herself. Hoda was stunned and could not stop smiling. She thanked Cynthia for thinking of her during this holiday season.

Viewers at home were also touched by the moment. One person on X, formerly known as Twitter wrote: “Aww Cynthia Erivo is at the #MacysThanksgivingDayParade and she gave Hoda flowers to celebrate Hoda’s career at The Today Show. Love this.” Another person wrote: “Not Cynthia ERIVO giving a gorgeous bouquet of flowers to Hoda. She’s amazing.” A third person wrote: “Cynthia Erivo is wicked talented and incredibly gracious. So thoughtful to honor Hoda. #MacysThanksgivingDayParade.”

When asked what Cynthia was thankful for this year, she said that filming Wicked was a dream come true, being able to share it with her family and friends and everyone being able to share their experiences with the film. She also said she was thankful to spent Thanksgiving with those at the parade.