Seven years after being fired from “Today” show for allegations of sexual harassment and rape, one TV insider predicted that Matt Lauer will soon be behind the camera again.
Former CNN anchor and close friend to Lauer, Don Lemon, said that Lauer is ready to make a comeback.
Lemon has remained friends with Lauer after several women accused him of sexual harassment and rape, which led him to lose his prestigious NBC gig in November 2017.
Appearing on the “Hollywood Raw” podcast on Wednesday, Lemon told hosts Dax Holt and Adam Glyn that Lauer, 67, has the potential to make a successful comeback in the podcast world.
Appearing on the “Hollywood Raw” podcast this week, Lemon told hosts Dax Holt and Adam Glyn that Lauer has the potential to make a successful comeback in the podcast world.
According to Lemon, fans continue to gravitate towards Lauer in public, despite his departure from the NBC show.
“Whenever I see Matt out and about or, you know, even with us, if we go out to dinner, my husband [Tim MaloneI] go out to dinner with him and his fiancée and people love him. Women love him. They’re like, ‘Man, oh my God, can I get a picture? I love you. I miss you on television.’ Right?” he said.
“And so, I think the public loves him. The public misses him, but it’s just the… it’s the people inside the business who are afraid of.”
“Maybe there is a way that he’ll come back, but I think it’s more of the people who are inside of the business who are concerned about, you know, what happened with Matt,” he added.
Lemon also suggested that Lauer’s ootential return could happen if the public had anything to do with it.
“I think the public… I’ll put it this way. I think the general public would accept — just me — would accept Matt back. And I think people would watch him and I think the ratings would be great,” he said.
Despite Lemon’s claims, People Magazine reported that the former CNN anchor is just one of the few friends left in Lauer’s circle.
Lauer’s friendships have reportedly undergone a “drastic change” since the disgraced news anchor was fired from his high-profile job according to the outlet.
A source close to Lauer previously told People that he has “iced out many old friends, even people who stuck by him after the ‘Today’ show.”
These days, Lauer is living “a fairly good life” but added his new reality is “nothing at all like what it was” prior to his departure from the show, the source added.