NBC Today show host Matt Lauer is apparently getting harassed for the program’s decision to can former co-host Ann Curry.
TMZ reported Thursday that network sources told the gossip website Lauer is “miserable” over people screaming bad things at him on the streets of Manhattan.
Lauer is reportedly also telling people at NBC that he’s regularly receiving sarcastic comments about his $25 million salary.
Sources told TMZ that Lauer feels “abused" while he maintains that he had nothing to do with Curry’s firing despite allegedly making clear when he signed a new contract with NBC that he didn’t want Ann in the picture.
This all comes as Today's ratings have been suffering, with ABC's Good Morning America actually surpassing its NBC rival for the first time in many years.
Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reported Friday that NBC is trying to get Curry and Lauer to have a meal in public to try to improve the latter's souring image.
"Network execs are encouraging the duo to do lunch — preferably at media hotspot Michael’s in midtown — and make a public display of patching things up," a source told the News.
“When the ratings fell after Ann, there was no more public ‘Matt’s really nice,’ and the bosses now need to do damage control,” the News's source said.
According to the source, higher-ups in the network feel the only way Lauer's image can be repaired is to have Curry do a public outing with her former co-star.
Will it happen, and if it does, will it help Lauer and the ailing Today show?
Stay tuned.
