Katie Couric Will Not Return To NBC, Revolt Averted
Katie Couric is not returning to NBC, according to a statement from her spokesman. He insists that despite the rumors swirling around Couric replacing Brian Williams, she is too focused on her work for Yahoo. According to other sources, the story might be a little bit more complicated than that.
Couric’s spokesperson told the New York Post the former Today show anchor respects her former boss Andrew Lack, but she’s not ready to come back to NBC.
“Katie has a longstanding friendship with Andy and has great respect for him and her former NBC colleagues. She wishes them all great success going forward, but she remains excited and focused on working with her team at Yahoo on her many interviews and projects.”
Fox News reports that Lack will return as chairman of NBC News and MSNBC(he had an eight year stint in the job until 2001). When the news network announced Lack’s new chairmanship, it started rumors that Katie Couric might come with him, either taking Brian William’s seat at the Nightly News or bumping Savannah Guthrie from Today. After all, Lack helped make Couric a star on the Today show and they’ve reportedly stayed friends.
Katie Couric’s announcement seems to have stopped that speculation in its tracks, but the New York Post suggests there’s something more at play.
According to AOL, multiple inside sources reported that Couric and Andrew Lack were having meetings about her coming back. Although Lester Holt has maintained ratings on the Nightly News despite Brian Williams’ fall from grace, Today has been losing in the ratings battle to Good Morning America, which could have been used as a valid reason for bringing Couric back on.
Nevertheless, another inside source told the Post that Lack denied any meetings with Katie to his executives. The source added, “And the truth is she isn’t welcome back at Today.”
“There’s still a lot of people at the show who worked with her back in the day, and she wasn’t very nice to work with, especially toward the end.”
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Katie Couric terrorized co-host Ann Curry. She would slam Curry’s choice of clothing and general style, at times right before the broadcast, which would throw the co-host off-balance. Couric brought her bad behavior to CBS.
Couric’s TV persona was distant from her real-life personality. According to a tell-all book called The News Sorority, Couric was simply a bully.
If that book and the Post insider are correct, Andrew Lack might have tried to avoid a minor revolt from a staff, who reportedly don’t want the former Today star to return. Katie Couric will likely profit from the rumors anyway; she’s reportedly in contract negotiations with Yahoo and the rumors from NBC could give her considerable leverage.
[Image Credit: Getty Images]
