The morning TV-show wars have grown so nasty and bitter that former “Today” host Ann Curry was prohibited from tweeting a best-wishes message to rival anchor Robin Roberts last fall when Roberts was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disease, according a report says.
Roberts’ diagnosis and long absence from “Good Morning America” for the potemtially deadly blood disorder was big news — so big that it swamped the “Today” show in the ratings.
So when Curry wanted to “tweet a note of sympathy for the ABC co-host, NBC said no, afraid she was trying to aid the enemy,” according to New York magazine.
An NBC spokesman declined to comment yesterday. But an NBC News exec said the incident was blown out of proportion.
“ ‘NBC News’ and ‘Today’ have been supportive of Robin’s recovery and continue to wish her nothing but the best,” said the exec.
The incident is one more scene in what has become a running soap opera at “Today” over Curry’s banishment from the morning show last summer, and the public blame that has fallen on Matt Lauer for the brutish way it was handled.
NBC has been shocked by how unpopular Lauer — who less than a year ago was the prince of morning TV with the highest salary, a reported $25 million a year — had become in just a few short months.
Desperate to rehabilitate himself, Lauer has owned up to the mistakes the show made in the Curry fiasco in several recent interviews — but insisted he’s not to blame. It appears to be too little, too late.
“Today” has fallen to No. 2 in the ratings behind “GMA,” which pulled out all the stops to play up Roberts’ medical problems and, last month, her near-miraculous return to the air after a marrow stem-cell transplant.
Curry herself has been quiet while her former colleagues twist in the wind over her messy ouster.
She is supposed to be working for other news shows on the network, including the newsmagazines “Dateline” and “Rock Center,” but has hardly appeared.
It now seems clear that NBC has little use for her and she is waiting out the end of her contract there.
“You know, a lot of this bad blood would go away if Ann just came out and said, ‘Hey, Matt [Lauer] and I are still close and I love everyone at ‘Today,’ ” says one insider.
“But so far, she isn’t letting anyone off the hook — and the NBC people are pretty unhappy about that.”