NBC Accused of "Whitewashing" in Wake of Tamron Hall Departure

Thank goodness for This Is Us, huh?

This must be what executives at NBC are thinking these days, considering the onslaught of bad press that has come the network’s way over the past years or so.

First, there was the backlash against Saturday Night Live after Donald Trump hosted an episode toward the end of 2016.

Then, there was the time Jimmy Kimmel fawned over Trump and treated the delusional narcissist like everyone’s best, most harmless friend.

And then there was the fact that NBC brought back Celebrity Apprentice, keeping Trump on as an executive producer.

Now, however, the network is under fire for a reason unrelated to President Trump.

Earlier this year, Megyn Kelly announced that she was leaving Fox News to sign a deal with NBC.

The only details confirmed at the time by Kelly and network executives was that the journalist would contribute to political coverage and also anchor her own five-days-a-week program.

Since then, however, multiple sources have reported that Kelly will slide into a chair on The Today Show in some capacity; either right next to Matt Lauer… or possibly at 9am or 10am, causing a major programming shift.

Either Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford will move up an hour and replace Al Roker and Hall – or Kelly will be the one to replace Roker and Hall.

In response to Kelly’s addition shoving her out of hosting duties alongside Roker, Tamron Hall left NBC on Thursday.

She didn’t even say goodbye on air; nor she did have another deal lined up when she departed.

She was simply angry over the way her future at the company was being handled and decided to peace out of there as quickly as possible.

The National Association of Black Journalists, meanwhile, has now released a rather damning statement in regard to Hall leaving Today and Kelly probably taking her place.

It reads as follows:

The National Association of Black Journalists is saddened by Tamron Hall’s departure from NBC.

She broke ground as the first black female ‘Today Show’ cohost and was enjoying ratings success alongside Al Roker during the show’s third hour of programming.

NBC has been a leader for diversity in broadcasting, but recent reports that Hall and Roker will be replaced by former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly are being seen by industry professionals as whitewashing.

Whitewashing. That’s a pretty strong word to use.

This isn’t the sort of allegation NBC can just sit back and allow to linger online.

Therefore, on Thursday, a network spokesperson issued a response:

“NBC News has a long and proven history as an industry leader in newsroom diversity.

“We will continue to engage in the running dialogue we’ve had for many years with the National Association of Black Journalists and other advocacy groups to advance those goals.”

Hall joined Today in 2014 and MSNBC in 2007.

As you can see here, Roker wasn’t pretty sad to say goodbye to his close friend.

Al Roker Bids Emotional Farewell to Tamron Hall

And the network was pretty magnanimous in how it addressed her decision.

“Tamron Hall will be leaving NBC News and MSNBC when her contract expires this month,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

“[January 31] was her last day as an anchor on both networks. 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.”

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Al Roker Bids Emotional Farewell to Tamron Hall

Well, that escalated quickly.

And, based on what we"ve been hearing via the rumor mill, it also escalated in rather bitter fashion.

Just a few weeks ago, Megyn Kelly left Fox News and joined NBC.

Both the journalist and network executives then confirmed that Kelly would be hosting some kind of five-days-a-week series for her new home… and that it would air each morning, disrupting the four-hour block of Today Show programming that has been in place for yeas.

Whether Kelly"s show airs at 9am or 10am, it became public knowledge that Tamron Hall and Al Roker would no longer anchor their very own hour.

Therefore, in response, Hall chose not to sign a new contract with NBC.

"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," Hall said via statement, adding:

"To all my great colleagues, I will miss you and I will be rooting for you."

With Hall already gone from Today, Roker took a few moments this morning to address the awkward and unfortunate turn of events.

"As some of you may have heard by now, our good friend Tamron Hall has decided to leave NBC News," said the veteran weatherman.

"Personally, Tamron has been not just a cohost on Today for the past three years, but a good friend – and to not just me, but to all of us here.

"We want to wish her nothing but the best, much continued success, and we cannot wait to see what her next chapter is."

Watch Roker"s full message in support of Hall below:

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Tamron Hall to The Today Show: I Quit!

Tamron Hall has sent a message to The Today Show.

And the message basically goes like this:

See ya! Wouldn’t want to be ya!

The long-time anchor of the third hour of Today, Hall left her post today, about a week after news spread that she would lose her gig to NBC’s latest big hire, Megyn Kelly.

“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,” Hall said via statement, adding:

“To all my great colleagues, I will miss you and I will be rooting for you.”

In news that broke last week, sources confirmed that Kelly – who left Fox News for NBC at the outset of 2017 – will host her own five-days-a-week program at either 9am EST or 10am EST on NBC.

If she ends up in the earlier timeslot, then Kelly will bridge the gap between the first two hours of Today and the fourth hour, which has been hosted by a buzzed Hoda Kotb ad Kathie Lee Gifford for years.

If Kelly ends up in the later timeslot, then Kotb and Gifford will move to 9am themselves.

Either way, Hall and Al Roker will be the odd employees out.

They will no longer head up their own 60 minutes of the popular morning series, despite being the top-rated program on broadcast television every week for the last seven weeks in their timeslot. 

Hall is clearly peeved about this development.

“Yesterday was her last day as an anchor on both networks,” the network said of Hall, referring to NBC 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.”

Just how angry was Hall over being bumped due to Kelly’s arrival?

“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 and she turned it down,” a source tells People Magazine.

Moreover, this same source says Hall doesn’t even have a landing spot at the moment.

Her contract with NBC was up, but she hasn’t been offered any deals by any competing networks. At least not yet.

She simply wanted out.

Aside from the actual demotion, Hall is allegedly mad at the way she found out about NBC’s scheduling plans.

On Friday, this People insider claims, Hall was informed that she and Roker were losing their gigs mere minutes before she was set to go on the MSNBC air.

“In Tamron Hall style, she went on air and acted like the classy professional that she is,” the source says, although it’s clear she wasn’t happy with how everything played out.

“She couldn’t believe they told her right before she had to go on air. She was definitely shocked.”

Roker will still appear regularly during other hours of The Today Show.

We’re guessing he isn’t pleased with this maneuvering by the network, either, but he’s practically an American icon at this point. He’ll be fine.

Let’s hope Hall lands on her feet somewhere and proves to be more than fine in the near future as well.

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Megyn Kelly to Bump Al Roker and Tamron Hall from Today Show

Contrary to previous reports, Days of Our Lives will not be canceled in the wake of Megyn Kelly signing with NBC earlier this year.

There had been talk that Kelly’s upcoming talk show would take over that beloved soap opera’s timeslot, making the reporter an enemy of millions of viewers before she even started.

But Days of Our Lives appears to be safe.

The same cannot be said, however, for the future of Al Roker and Tamron Hall as Today Show anchors.

According to a pair of reliable sources (People Magazine and USA Today), Kelly will host a five-days-a-week program that will air on NBC at either 9 a.m. ET/PT or 10 a.m. ET/PT.

If it lands in the former time period, then the series will bridge the gap between the first two hours of Today and Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford getting drunk on wine at 10.

If it lands in the latter time period, then Hoda and Kathie Lee will move up an hour every day.

In either scenario, however, Al Roker and Tamron Hall are out of luck.

They will no longer host their own 60 minutes of the long-running morning program.

And the timing of this announcement is ironic, considering Roker just took to Twitter yesterday to tout the 9 am block’s ratings momentum.

Roker, who has been Today‘s weather and feature anchor since January 1996, will continue his 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. duties along with Hall.

NBC has not commented on these programming rumors.

Kelly, meanwhile, will join NBC News in some capacity this May, while her daily show will commence in the fall.

She reportedly turned down an offer of $ 20 million per year from Fox to make this major move, which wasn’t shocking since Kelly opened up last year about past instances of sexual harassment at the hands of former Fox Corp. Chairman Roger Ailes.

“Over a dozen years ago I started at Fox News in a job that would change my life,” Kelly wrote upon confirming her departure.

“Now, I have decided to end my time at FNC, incredibly enriched for the experiences I’ve had. I have agreed to join NBC News, where I will be launching a new daytime show Monday through Friday, along with a Sunday evening news magazine program.

“I will also participate in NBC’s breaking news coverage and its political and special events coverage.”

Kelly, who was also looking to shift from nighttime work to daytime work in order to spend more time with her family, concluded as follows:

While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge.

I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters.

More to come soon. … Happy New Year, and God bless.

In Kelly’s place, Tucker Carlson now anchors a show every night on Fox News; and he has thus far doubled the ratings of The Kelly File.

Here’s a look at how Kelly signed off for the final time on Fox:

Megyn Kelly Bids Farewell to Fox News Viewers

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