Katie Couric Weighs in on Today Show Shakeup: Is She Team Tamron Hall or Team Megyn Kelly?
One of the Today shows most well-known alums is speaking out about the recent shakeups at the NBC morning show.
Katie Couric stopped by Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Monday, where she was asked her thoughts on Tamron Halls exit and Megyn Kellys new contract.
Unsurprisingly, the 60-year-old journalist - who was dubbed “America’s Sweetheart” during her 15-year run on the show - wasn’t taking sides.
“I haven’t talked to Tamron, I don’t know Tamron well. I do know Megyn a bit,” Couric started.
“Unfortunately I think sometimes people turn morning shows into soap operas that they’re not,” she explained. “Because they feel so intimately connected to the people on the show, they feel like they’re members of their family - they get very territorial and proprietary about it. And they read things into relationships.”
Despite the drama, Couric stressed that she thinks it’ll all be okay.
“I think it’ll all work out,” she said. “And I think the show is great. I wish Tamron well. But I’m just not getting involved in the drama of it.”
NBC announced in a statement in February that Hall would be leaving NBC News and MSNBC when her contract expired at the end of that month. The 46-year-old anchor joined MSNBC and NBC in 2007 and became part of the Today team in 2014 as a co-anchor of Today’s Take - the morning show’s third hour. Hall also anchored MSNBC Live, a daily news program airing at 11 a.m. on MSNBC.
The news came just days after Hall learned she’d be losing her 9 a.m. Today’s Take time slot because of the incoming Kelly, who joins the show in September following her run Fox News.
It’s still unclear what time slot Kelly will be in.
Kelly will either take over Today’s third hour, where Hall and Al Roker had been hosting, or will take over Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotbs 10 a.m. slot. If Kelly, 46, takes over the fourth hour, Gifford, 63, and Kotb, 52, will be bumped up to the 9 a.m. slot.
A source previously told PEOPLE Kelly’s Today show hour will likely begin this fall.
“The format is still in progress, but she will most likely be hosting the hour on her own,” said the source.
NBC chairman Andrew Lack has offered the journalist three new gigs at the network, including a chance to host her own daytime news and discussion program, anchor an in-depth Sunday night news show, as well as a role taking part in the network’s special political programming and other big event coverage.
RELATED VIDEO: Megyn Kelly Leaves Fox News for 3 New Gigs at NBC, Including Daytime Talk Show
Hall released a statement via the network after her departure was announced: “The last 10 years have been beyond anything I could have imagined, and I’m grateful. 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.”
Following her exit from the network, Hall said she received two different types of calls from people inquiring about her departure.
“Some would call and say, Oh my God, are you OK?’ And I was like, What happened? Who died?’ and then there were other people who said, What’s next?’ ” she said at the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council’s Summit Salute on Thursday, according to Page Six.
RELATED VIDEO: Why Tamron Hall Walked Away From Today’: She Wasn’t Going to Settle for Sitting on the Sidelines’
But Hall said that she doesn’t “want a friend who calls me saying, Oh my God.’ ”
“It’s a job. It doesn’t define me. It doesn’t determine what I do ... how I treat people. I’m going to always look you in your face and say, Thank you’ and Please’ - and if you make me mad, a good cuss word - but in the end, a title can’t define you,” said Hall, Page Six reports.
The former Today show anchor added: “When your card no longer says anything beneath it, but your name, are you still you? Can you still savor the victory - the moment that you were able to take that dream? I never imagined that I would be on the Today show.”
