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LAUER: “Such a phony,” according to a knowledgeable source. (AP)
It’s ass-saving time for morning villain Matt Lauer.
More than eight months ago, the miserable “Today’’ show anchor snuffed the life out of America’s sweetheart Ann Curry on live TV just for kicks.
Yesterday, Matt went on a media blitz, using gullible reporter Howard Kurtz of The Daily Beast to save his job, if not his soul.
MATT LAUER WANTED COURIC INSTEAD OF CURRY FOR ‘TODAY’
From the look of things, Matt won’t avoid burning any time soon.
Matt’s ratings these days are receding faster than his hairline. A woman stopped him at London’s Olympics last summer to read him the riot act, Matt admitted to Kurtz.
And there’s no one to blame for this bit of Ann karma coming back to bite Matt except himself.
But, instead of copping to the fact that he’s a very bad man, Matt did something slimy:
He blamed NBC honchos for mucking up Curry’s ouster, forcing him, against his will, to publicly humiliate a dame whose shoes Matt’s not fit to polish.
And NBC brass bent over and let him get away with it.
TV insiders say Matt won’t win.
“Matt’s such a phony,” said a knowledgeable source.
This person pointed to “Today” losing in the ratings, and not just to ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Last month, “Today” came in behind Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” in the local market.
“What’s next?” asked the source. “Home Shopping Network?”
“This whole thing was orchestrated to rehabilitate Matt Lauer, to save him,” said another source, who said the ploy was obvious — except maybe to Kurtz.
It doesn’t help that Matt comes off as genuine and sympathetic as an ex-con.
On the day last June that Curry was booted from hosting “Today,” Lauer sat miles away from her on the couch. While Curry, who was replaced by the vacant Savannah Guthrie, sobbed, Matt looked as if he’d just remembered an important dental appointment.
“You have the biggest heart in the business,” he managed to say, a curious choice of words from a man who just stabbed her in the chest. Finally, mercifully, he kissed Curry goodbye, entirely missing her cheek.
Astonishingly, NBC brass rose to Matt’s defense.
“He was quietly and publicly a supporter of Ann’s throughout the entire process,” former NBC President Steve Capus told Kurtz. “It is unfair that Matt has shouldered an undue amount of blame for a decision he disagreed with.”
But Matt admits he didn’t want Curry on the show in the first place, and even tried behind the scenes to persuade Katie Couric, his former co-host, to return to “Today.” She went to ABC instead.
“They’re basically sacrificing the people who run the network” to save Matt, said my TV source. “The president of the network is taking the fall.”
But taking blame from Matt, however disingenuously, misses the point.
He’s got to go.