Authorities arrested a deranged man who slipped past security at NBC’s “Today” show this morning, allegedly lunged at host Craig Melvin while yelling a racial slur after following him into a restricted area.
The intruder initially stormed the studio around 9 AM Eastern Time, asking for Al Roker, sources told the media outlet TMZ about the incident.
He got close enough to confront Melvin before staff and security rushed in and detained him.
Fellow “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie was not involved, according to reports.
'Today' show intruder looking for Al Roker lunges at Craig Melvin, yells racial slur in terrifying security breach: report https://t.co/h3ngHjBuoD pic.twitter.com/eKTw3SEdot
— New York Post (@nypost) July 16, 2026
The incident wasn’t captured on air, and nobody on set was hurt, according to initial reports.
Roughly 15 minutes after it all went down, both Craig and Al were on air, and neither mentioned the incident.
A photo taken inside the studio shows Melvin surrounded by several people in the aftermath.
The exact path the man took remains unclear, but staff are demanding answers about how an unauthorized person managed to trail one of the show’s biggest stars off the publicly accessible plaza and get so deep inside the building undetected.
Officials told CNN they are combing through surveillance footage to put the pieces together.
The news comes as security was ramped up at NBC’s “Today” show in February as Savannah Guthrie’s co-hosts and colleagues covered the abduction of her mother, Nancy, two people at the network said on condition of anonymity.
The additional security measures were implemented out of an abundance of caution to help alleviate some of the stress the show’s hosts were feeling as they talked on air every morning about the mystery.
Savannah Guthrie made her highly anticipated return to NBC’s “Today” show back on April 6, the first time since her 84-year-old mom, Nancy Guthrie, went missing earlier this year saying, “it is good to be home.”
Despite the ongoing investigation into her mom’s disappearance, Guthrie told viewers in May that in addition to her “Today” duties, she will be the host of a new “Wordle” game show, alongside Jimmy Fallon, the project’s executive producer.