Tamron Hall, the first African-American woman to co-host of NBC’s “Today,” has abruptly left both the show and the network, NBC announced Wednesday.
It’s the latest shake-up in the notoriously unstable lineup at “Today,” following the departure of Billy Bush in the wake of Donald Trump “grab ’em” videotape in October, and Bush had just replaced Willie Geist in the 9 a.m. hour in August. Natalie Morales also left the 9 a.m. hour to become the West Coast anchor and to host “Access Hollywood.”
Sources have told CNN’s Brian Stelter that NBC wanted to move Hall and remaining co-host Al Roker out of the 9 a.m. time slot, known as “Today’s Take,” to make way for a new show for Megyn Kelly, the former Fox host who recently signed on with NBC.
In a statement, NBC said it wanted to keep Hall on staff — she is also a daytime anchor at MSNBC — but that she chose to leave. Tuesday was Hall’s last day as an anchor on both NBC and MSNBC.
“The last ten years have been beyond anything I could have imagined, and I’m grateful,” Hall says in the same statement. “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.”
It’s unclear whether Kelly will be hosting her show at 9 a.m., or whether the 10 a.m. “Today” co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee Gifford will be moving to 9 a.m. Roker will continue to host the 9 a.m. hour until the fall, when the new morning lineup begins, and he will continue as the “Today” meteorologist, according to CNN.
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