Ann Curry's tenure as coanchor of Today ended in June 2012 after just over a year—though she had been on the morning show since 1997 as the news anchor. It was widely reported that she and Lauer did not get along and that he had much to do with her firing. According to a lengthy New York magazine piece on the inner workings of the morning show, "Off air, Curry and Lauer had no relationship and barely spoke." In her teary on-air farewell, the tension between Curry and Lauer is visible as you can see her try to move away from his embrace—even more noticeable when contrasted with the warmth she shows Al Roker and Natalie Morales. Yet, Lauer prevailed and soon had a new cohost in Savannah Guthrie.
The Anne Hathaway Interview
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Back in 2012, doing press for Les Miserables, Anne Hathaway was photographed getting out of her car for an event in such a way that it showed up her dress, revealing her to not be wearing any underwear. It was horrible enough that the photos were sold and published, but Lauer's interview with her soon after on Today was extra icky. He opened by greeting her with, "Nice to see you, seen a lot of you lately." It was icky then, and perhaps even more so now. He then goes on to ask her what lessons she's learned from it, as if she'd done something wrong in the first place. Hathaway takes it in stride and with grace—as so many women do—saying: "It was obviously an unfortunate incident. It kind of made me sad on two accounts. One was that I was very sad that when we live in an age where someone takes a picture of another person in a vulnerable moment, and rather than delete it and do the decent thing, sells it. And I’m sorry that we live in a culture that commodifies the sexuality of unwilling participants. Which brings us back to Les Mis.” Lauer's sexism is on bold display here, and yet outside of some internet and media chatter, there were no serious repercussions.
