Skip to Content

Excerpts from a new book have been released and they echo a previous report regarding Ann Curry and her firing from Today:

Matt Lauer may suck, but producers were to blame for the horrible situation at that NBC program.

In “Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV,” Brian Stelter writes that Curry received never-ending flak from those around her, with one staff members telling the author:

Ann Curry on Halloween
(Getty Images)

“A lot of time in the control room was spent making fun of Ann’s outfit choices or just generally messing with her.”

 

Case in point?

The yellow dress above, a photo of which employees reportedly posted backstage alongside a picture of Big Bird and the caption: Who Wore It Best?

Among other ways in which higher-ups made fun of Curry, according to the book:

  • Executive Producer Jim Bell “commissioned a blooper reel of Curry’s worst on-air mistakes.”
  • Prior to her ousting in June, boxes of Curry’s items went missing and somehow ended up in a coat closet.
  • It was known around the office that Bell wanted to replace Curry with Savannah Guthrie and even referred to the plans to fire her as “Operation Bambi.”

Bell has denied these charges, which were published today in The New York Times.

As for Curry? She is trying to stay out of the spotlight, hanging out at her family house in Connecticut.

The reporter remains “profoundly hurt and humiliated” by her dismissal, Stelter writes, concluding: “She told friends that her final months were a form of professional torture.”