Report says he’s been pleading with NBC bosses to let her out of her contract

Jan 15, 2013 16:27 GMT  ·  By

Even though he’s believed to have been instrumental in getting Ann Curry fired from The Today Show last summer, Matt Lauer is now her most vocal supporter, a new, unconfirmed report says.

For the past weeks, Curry has been in talks to make the move from NBC to CNN, where she would occupy Anderson Cooper’s 8 pm EST time slot, Radar Online reports.

She’s already agreed to the job and is thinking she might make the move in February but, as it happens, NBC bosses are taking their time in letting her out of her contract.

Lauer thinks that they should hurry up, an inside source confirms for the celebrity publication.

“Matt Lauer is telling his bosses at NBC that his former TODAY co-anchor Ann Curry should be let out of her contract immediately so the respected journalist can take a job at CNN,” Radar writes.

Considering that Lauer is considered largely responsible for Curry’s abrupt departure from The Today Show, such a move on his behalf might come across as suspicious at least.

“Matt thinks that NBC should let Ann out of her contract so that she can take the CNN gig. He can’t imagine why the bosses are dragging their feet and are at a stalemate,” an insider says, insisting that it’s really happening.

“It would allow Ann to get back on the air on a regular basis and everyone can move on from the debacle. Matt only wishes Ann the best and thinks it’s for the best if she were to take a job at another network,” the tipster further says.

This could be Lauer’s way of doing some damage control, seeing how his brand took a serious hit after Curry announced her departure – and word immediately spread that he had personally seen to it, speeding up the process to the best of his ability.