Kathie Lee Gifford creates pro-Matt Lauer petition
An NBC Sports poster board is unloaded from a buggy at the London 2012 Olympic Park, east London, on July 21, 2012. The London 2012 Olympic Games begin on July 27, 2012.
Kathie Lee Gifford created a petition showing support for Matt Lauer and got the entire cast of "Today" to sign it, the New York Daily News reported. Gifford had wanted to publish the petition as an advertisement in USA Today. But Lauer asked her not to, so she told the Daily News about the petition instead.
“We all wanted to say something to Matt and nobody wanted to put him in a position that would make him uncomfortable,” Gifford told the Daily News. “So unbeknownst to anyone higher up at NBC, I just started this thing.”
“No one has coerced us to sign this. With our signatures we stand in support of our colleague and friend," she added.
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It probably comes as little surprise that Ann Curry did not sign the petition.
After Ann Curry left "Today" almost a year ago, many have blamed Lauer. And recent news reports haven't helped his image. "Everybody at NBC, everybody at the Today show, everybody understood that Ann was kicked out of her position because Matt didn't want her there," one source told New York magazine last month.
And a recent New York Times Magazine article recounts how hurt Curry felt by the end of her "Today" tenure: "The growing indifference of Matt Lauer, her co-host, had hurt the most," the article says.
The bad press lead Lauer to ask NBC to help him find "crisis" experts," the New York Post reported earlier this week.