It’s a new day on Today. The NBC morning show aired its third hour live on Monday, October 29, for the first time since Megyn Kelly Today was canceled, with the show’s remaining hosts filling in for Megyn Kelly, 47.
“Today, as you know, we are starting a new chapter in the third hour of our show,” coanchor Hoda Kotb said at the top of the show. “As it evolves, we want you to know that the entire Today family will continue to bring you informative and important stories, just as we always have.”
Kotb, 54, then segued into the news of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting alongside Al Roker and Craig Melvin, and that coverage continued well into Kelly’s old 9 a.m. ET time slot. Eventually, Jenna Bush Hager took over the third hour, hosting a segment from Kelly’s former studio.
Megyn Kelly Today was canceled last week a few days after the former Fox News host wondered why blackface was racist during a panel conversation on the show. “You truly do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on white face,” she added in the Tuesday, October 23, segment. “That was OK when I was a kid, as long as you were dressing like a character.”
Kelly apologized to her staff via email that same day, and she apologized to viewers the following morning. Nevertheless, NBC announced her show’s cancellation on Friday, October 26. “Megyn Kelly Today is not returning. Next week, the 9 a.m. hour will be hosted by other Today coanchors,” an NBC News spokesperson told Us Weekly in a statement at the time. The network has not yet announced its plans for Today’s third hour.
Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Kelly, told Us that the embattled TV host “remains an employee of NBC News and discussions about next steps are continuing.”
Megyn Kelly Today had been airing for little more than a year by the time it was canceled, but a source told Us Weekly the show’s days were numbered even before the blackface controversy. “Discussions of Megyn’s show ending have been going on for a moment,” the source said. “This is not a recent development. NBC was practically waiting for a reason to end this show.”
Today airs every weekday on NBC at 7 a.m. ET.
