Ann Curry speaks out after Matt Lauer firing: 'The battle lines are now clear'
Twitter is calling it karma.
Ann Curry upon hearing Matt Lauer has been fired...#karma pic.twitter.com/ch9BR5Gm3j
— just_one_elisha (@just_one_elisha) November 29, 2017
Matt Lauer just caught his karma bus and Ann Curry was driving pic.twitter.com/zxjVPTBYfz
— T Sanders (@troiselaine) November 29, 2017
"Matt Lauer" Fired Wow! karma is a beautiful thing!!! Miss you Ann Curry pic.twitter.com/WBQGvHnaEq
— LadyJMitongu (@MMitongu) November 29, 2017
Former “Today” show anchor Ann Curry was fired in 2012, and her then-co-anchor Matt Lauer was blamed for her departure.
Curry was allegedly fired after ratings fell behind rival morning show “Good Morning America,” but internal research at NBC showed that Lauer was losing viewers as he became “less appealing” than Curry to the audience, New York Magazine reported.
In 2014, former “Today” co-host Meredith Viera told US Weekly, “That was such a bad time. I really felt for Matt a lot. And I felt for Ann, too. It turned so nasty, really nasty. Every day you’re reading this stuff that is just beyond cruel from angry, angry people who felt that Ann had been slighted and embarrassed and humiliated.”
Curry spoke after the recent news of her former coworker in a previously scheduled interview with People Wednesday, but she didn’t comment on Lauer’s firing specifically. She encouraged the women’s movement to keep pushing forward to make the workplace safer.
“...the battle lines are now clear. We need to move this revolution forward and make our workplaces safe,” she told People, pointing out that “corporate America is failing at this.”
Curry, who is currently an executive producer at “We’ll Meet Again,” told the magazine that she supports the women who are speaking out against sexual misconduct “in any way.”
“I admire the women who have been willing to speak up both anonymously and on the record,” she told People. “Those women need to keep their jobs, and all women need to be able to work, to be able to thrive, without fear. This kind of behavior exists across industries, and it is so long overdue for it to stop.”
This morning, Twitter pictured Curry reaction to the news a little differently. Many fans expressed their frustration over how she was treated.
Well, $25 million is freed up for The Today Show. Who’s going to replace Matt Lauer. Somewhere, Ann Curry is saying... pic.twitter.com/oI4YsRuJ8K
— Tracy Tran (@tracytran) November 29, 2017
Funny that it took 20 years and sexual misconduct to fire Matt Lauer, but for Ann Curry and Katie Couric it just took turning 50...#TodayShow pic.twitter.com/joO7qECVaE
— Jules AF ❄️ (@JulesQuincy) November 29, 2017
Ann Curry & Katie Couric told us about Matt Lauer directly & obliquely for years so NBC cannot pretend this is new info.
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) November 29, 2017
This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 7:47 AM with the headline "Ann Curry speaks out after Matt Lauer firing: 'The battle lines are now clear'."