Al Roker addresses ‘Today’ show co-host Tamron Hall’s departure
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.com
Al Roker took a moment to address his co-host Tamron Hall‘s departure on Thursday’s Today show.
At the beginning of the third hour, which was co-hosted by Roker and Hall until Wednesday’s announcement, Roker made a short statement.
“As some of you may have heard by now, our good friend Tamron Hall has decided to leave NBC News,” he said, joined by weekend co-host and correspondent Sheinelle Jones and actor Dean Cain.
“Personally, Tamron has been not just a co-host here on Today’s Take for the past three years but a good friend — and not just to me, to all of us here,” he continued. “We want to wish her nothing but the best, much continued success and cannot wait to see what her next chapter is.”
“She’s going to rock it, no matter what she does,” chimed in Jones.
“Absolutely,” said Roker.
NBC News issued a statement on Wednesday announcing that Hall, 46, had chosen to leave NBC News and MSNBC: “Tamron is an exceptional journalist, we valued and enjoyed her work at Today and MSNBC and hoped that she would decide to stay. We are disappointed that she has chosen to leave, but we wish her all the best.”
Sources told PEOPLE that Hall’s decision to part ways with the network came after an unexpected shakeup in the morning show’s lineup left her feeling hurt and offended: Megyn Kelly, who left Fox News last month for a new role at NBC News, is set to host an hour of the Today show, replacing the slot held by Hall and Roker.
“She was offered a lot of money to stay … a new multi-year, multi-million dollar deal to stay at the Today show and MSNBC,” said one source. “And she turned it down.”
Regardless of Hall’s own reasons for the exit, the insider insisted that she and Roker, 62, were not demoted, but simply would no longer be hosting that particular hour.
“Tamron was offered a brand-new deal — a very, very good deal,” said the source. “And Al is still a huge, integral part of the show. He remains under long-term contract.”
Hall joined MSNBC and NBC in 2007 and became part of the Today team in 2014 as a co-anchor of Today’s Take, the show’s third hour. She also anchored MSNBC Live, a daily news program airing at 11 a.m. on MSNBC.
“The last 10 years have been beyond anything I could have imagined, and I’m grateful,” Hall said in a statement released Wednesday. “‘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.”
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