Fearing Morning Show Espionage, NBC Forbid Ann Curry from Tweeting Well Wishes to Robin Roberts

A huge New York magazine cover story about the rubber band jungle of ill will and corporate fuckery that NBC’s Today has become will probably make you realize how terribly unimportant feuding morning show anchors really are in the grand cosmic scheme of things. Then you’ll come to the bit about how NBC’s corporate Cenobites reportedly forbid disaffected anchor Ann Curry from tweeting her support for Good Morning America‘s ailing Robin Roberts, and you’ll spend the next few minutes asking yourself, “What’s wrong with people??”

Once it had become clear that Curry wasn’t going to work out on Today, she existed, according to the New York piece, in a state of anchor limbo. It was super awkward for everyone, instilling in NBC execs an unreasonable sense of corporate paranoia:

Ann Curry was gone but not gone, which created a situation of spectacular awkwardness. Any trust that had existed between Curry and Today was shattered. When Robin Roberts left Good Morning America a month later to get treatment for MDS, Curry asked NBC if she could tweet a note of sympathy for the ABC co-host. NBC said no, afraid she was trying to aid the enemy.

Roberts had been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a cancer-like blood disease. To be fair, NBC couldn’t take the chance that Ann Curry would reveal the details of Today‘s latest outdoor cooking segment and tank the ratings. Feel free to send some of that Matt Lauer hate up the corporate ladder.

[NY Mag]