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Hoda Kotb gathered with anchors, friends and fans on the “Today” show for the last time Friday in a teary, star-studded end to her 17-year run on NBC’s morning program.
Throughout the broadcast, dubbed a “Hoda-bration” and a love letter to the longtime host, the “Today” anchors revisited Kotb’s television highlights and indulged in some of Kotb’s favourite things, including her snack of choice, Fritos with French onion dip.
In the 8 a.m. hour, Oprah Winfrey, who famously bade adieu to her popular talk show in 2011, was among the celebrities who congratulated the anchor in recorded messages.
“I know how challenging it is to come to the moment where you say, ‘I have done it, I have done it, and now it’s time to move on to the next thing,’” Winfrey said. ” … In the future, you’re going to look back and you’re going to say, ‘Was that the right decision? Did I do the right thing?’ And I will assure you that, yes, you have made the right move.”
Gayle King and Maria Shriver also dropped in for the celebration, and Jamie Lee Curtis, who couldn’t attend in person because of the Los Angeles fires, gifted Kotb a large orb engraved with the quote, “Every today with you is a better day,” along with her start and end dates on the show.
Kotb was brought to tears by her on-air colleagues – Jenna Bush Hager, Savannah Guthrie, Carson Daly, Al Roker and Craig Melvin – who showered the jovial host with praise throughout the broadcast.
She then walked with Guthrie through what the show called a “tunnel of love,” where staffers wearing purple beanies and foam fingers and waving streamers lined up to cheer her on as she moved outside to an even larger crowd of admirers on the “Today” show Plaza.
Back inside, Kotb’s co-anchors donned friendship bracelets with her as they looked back at key moments in what they called “Hoda’s Eras Tour,” which included a surprise appearance from Olympic gold-medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles.
“I don’t have a gold medal, but this feels pretty doggone good right now,” Kotb said, gripping Biles’s hand. “I watched you grow up. I watched you go to the mountaintop. I mean, I watched you fall down and get back up again. … When I think about all the things I’ve done here over all the 26 years [on NBC], you’re on top of my list.”
Biles said she would love to reunite with Kotb, her “Olympics mom,” in Los Angeles, presumably at the 2028 Olympics, teasing that there’s more to come from her even though she has said it would be “greedy” to compete at the 2028 Games.
Kotb announced on-air in September that she would be leaving the show.
“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and to try something new,” she said.
She added that she wanted to dedicate more time to her daughters, 8-year-old Haley and 5-year-old Hope. The girls sat next to her during her final show while Kermit the Frog serenaded them with “Rainbow Connection,” the song Kotb sings to them every night.
Melvin will host opposite Guthrie starting Monday, and Hager will anchor with rotating guest hosts until the show chooses a replacement.
Kotb joined NBC in 1998 as a “Dateline” correspondent, before she began hosting the fourth hour of the “Today” show with Kathie Lee Gifford in 2008.
After NBC fired Matt Lauer from his hosting position for “inappropriate sexual behaviour,” Kotb permanently took his spot opposite Guthrie in 2018. Her promotion made history, marking the first time two women helmed the show.