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Matt Lauer Fired? ‘Today’ Host Reportedly Losing His Job To Willie Geist As NBC Frets Over Lauer’s $20M Salary

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 02:07 PST, Jun 3, 2016

Matt Lauer could soon be fired from the Today show, with reports that the host’s big salary is too much for NBC and that he could soon be replaced by Willie Geist.

The report circulated this week, claiming that Lauer may be in his final weeks with the network as his salary has grown too high to keep him.

“Matt’s paid a lot of money, upward of $20 million a year. They don’t want to continue to give that kind of huge paycheck to one person anymore,” a source told In Touch Weekly (via Celeb Dirty Laundry).

The report went on to claim that Geist is being groomed to take over the position after Matt Lauer is fired. Geist would bring more energy to the position and would be considerably cheaper for the network, the report claimed. Many have seen Geist as a rising star within NBC, but to this point, he is still waiting to take a lead role with the network.

Lauer has been at the center of a number of Today show rumors in recent years. He was reportedly the catalyst for Ann Curry’s 2012 firing, leading to a simmering feud between the two.

The circumstances of Curry’s firing were never entirely clear, with some claiming that Matt Lauer was responsible and other insiders telling the New York Post that he actually had nothing to do with it.

The situation led to a rift within the Today show, reports claimed.

“Ann and Matt never made up after her firing. He believes the way she handled it made him look terrible, while she believes Matt played a major role in her downfall,” an insider told the Post’s Page Six last year.

In 2014, another rumor claimed that Matt Lauer was behind the firing of top Today show executive Jamie Horowitz. Page Six reported that Lauer found out about a plan to replace his co-anchor Savannah Guthrie with Hoda Kotb, leading Lauer to go to NBC News President Deborah Turness to put a stop to it.

“Savannah, Natalie and Willie Geist heard about the plan and talked to Matt, who went to Turness and told her, ‘I want to keep these people,’ so she fired Jamie,” a source told Page Six. “Once again, Matt Lauer calls the shots at ‘Today.’ The idea of bringing Jamie in was to bring change to the show to help beat ‘GMA,’ but how can you fix it if nobody can make any changes?”

There is some doubt to the report that Matt Lauer will be fired from the Today show. Gossip Cop, a website devoted to denying celebrity rumors (and a frequent critic of In Touch Weekly reports), claims that there is no plan to fire Lauer.

The report added that Lauer actually seems to have some strong job security at NBC.

“However, Gossip Cop checked in with a very reliable source close to the situation, who exclusively assures us there’s simply no plan to give Lauer the boot, and the tabloid’s report is ‘complete garbage.’ We’re further told the TV newsman ‘is the best in the business, and the ‘Today Show’ will have him in the anchor chair for as long as he wants to stay in it.'”

If there is any truth to the rumor that Matt Lauer will be fired, it seems that NBC isn’t trying to ease him out of the show. He has still taken a front-and-center role, unlike other anchors who have been eased into lesser parts in anticipation of being fired.

So far, no one at NBC has spoken publicly about the rumor that Matt Lauer could be fired. Lauer himself has remained quiet as well.

[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]

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