Anderson Cooper Approached By ‘Today,’ Could Replace Matt Lauer [Rumor]
Anderson Cooper has reportedly been approached by the folks at Today as a possible replacement for host Matt Lauer.
A report surfaced on Deadline earlier today that suggested NBC executives had contacted Cooper about the position with the morning show. Word on the street is that Lauer was quite displeased that the network had contacted the journalist about possibly signing on.
Although initial reports suggested that Matt Lauer was unhappy about the arrangement, an insider at NBC told TMZ that the host was actually okay with Anderson Cooper replacing him on Today.
The source also explained to the website that Lauer and Cooper had originally planned to sit down and hash out the arrangement in private. However, the Today host later backed out of the meeting.
Tension between Matt Lauer and NBC executives has continued to grow in recent days. The host was reportedly unhappy with the network after they forced him to interview filmmaker John Ziegler. The director recently interviewed Jerry Sandusky for a documentary entitled The Framing of Joe Paterno.
“Matt feels that he was set up by producers to fail by participating in the interview with Ziegler,” an insider told Radar Online. “Matt didn’t think it was a good idea to air it to begin with. Jerry Sandusky is a convicted child rapist, and Matt’s feeling was, let’s talk to the victims.”
The source added, “However, he wanted to prove he was a team player and did it. Producers thought it would generate a lot of publicity, but no had any idea it would have garnered so much controversy.”
Anderson Cooper’s involvement with the morning show is just the latest rumor to make the rounds. Reports surfaced earlier this month that Matt Lauer could take over Jeopardy! should Alex Trebek decide to leave in 2016.
Lauer addressed some of these rumors at a recent upfront presentation.
“I would like to tackle a teeny white elephant in the room. We hate being in the news. We want to go back to being the most-watched morning program — and least talked about morning program,” he said.
Do you think Anderson Cooper would be a good replacement for Matt Lauer on Today?
[Top Image via Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com – Bottom Image via Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com]
