NBC Exec Speaks On Ann Curry Dismissal: “My Heart Goes Out To Her”
Though Ann Curry’s hushed and speedy dismissal from Today seemed to stem from negative personal animus, one NBC executive claims there’s no hard feelings, and that his “heart goes out” to her.
NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt spoke out on Ann Curry’s Today removal, saying that he feels for the former co-host and adding that he had no “real involvement” with the decisions made by NBC’s news division, reports Us Weekly. “I think everybody in the news division from what I could tell took as much care as they could . . . to make this transition happen,” Greenblatt remarked. “It’s never easy. Things leak and you try to do things respectfully and then you have to go out and announce something you weren’t ready to announce.”
“My heart goes out to all those people, including Ann, and everybody who went through that transition,” he added.
Curry was fired from Today after a year as co-host. News of an allegedly nasty dismissal leaked to the media one week ahead of her messy and emotional departure from the show, notes the Huffington Post.
Greenblatt also expressed sympathy over the “forced” departure of Community creator and showrunner Dan Harmon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Those Thursday comedies (of which Community is one) tend to be a bit more narrow than we’d like,” he admitted. “Community is a show that’s always on the bubble, we decided to bring it back again and see what a fourth season would do for us. Sometime you want to freshen up the show and we just decided to do that, with no disrespect to anyone.”
Despite only ordering 13 episodes for a fourth season of fan-favorite Community, Greenblatt insisted that “Fans are going to get the same show they have loved from the beginning,” continuing, “Every so often it’s time to make a change with a showrunner; you evaluate the creative and how the show is run, how the writing staff works. Sometimes you want to freshen a show and we just decided it was time to do that with Community.”
