Megyn Kelly Reportedly Furious Over Olympics Snub
by EG
When Megyn Kelly moved to NBC from Fox News, sources say that she wanted to be the host of Megyn Kelly Today and not have to participate in special events like the Olympics broadcasts. But once Matt Lauer, the usual Olympic host at the network, was fired and the Olympics gig was given to Katie Couric, Kelly was reportedly furious. It seems that she didn't want the job, but she wanted to be begged to do it.
Via Page Six.
Megyn Kelly “threw an Olympic fit” when NBC offered the job of anchoring next month’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony to Katie Couric, sources exclusively told Page Six.Television insiders say that Kelly insisted, when signing her $23 million-a-year contract with NBC last spring, that she could not be forced to do special events such as the winter games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, which start airing on the Peacock Network on Feb. 9.
But once “Today” vet Matt Lauer — who usually helmed special coverage, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — was ousted in November over sexual misconduct allegations, Kelly assumed she was next in line for the plum assignments.
“She thought she had it all played out perfectly, by saying ‘no’ before the Matt Lauer scandal. [The network was] stupid enough to put in her contract that she could say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ ”
But we’re told that after execs instead gave the gig to Couric — who co-hosted the “Today” show with Lauer from 1997 to 2006, at which point she left the network — Kelly wanted to have it on principle. “[Kelly] complained to her staff, she complained to her agent, so that [NBC News chairman Andrew Lack] would hear about the fact that she was unhappy, but he didn’t care.”
The source added that Lack — who originally signed Kelly to the network amid much fanfare in January 2017, starting with “Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly” in June — has finally realized she is “a diva” and that “she’s not going to be part of the NBC News . . . inner circle.”
Get the rest of the story at Page Six.
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