Ann Curry described final months at 'Today' as 'torture': Producers called plot to oust her 'Operation Bambi'
Staffers from the morning show would routinely poke fun at Curry and play cruel pranks on her, according to an explosive excerpt from Brian Stelter's upcoming book 'Top of the Morning'
Comments (351)BY MARGARET EBY / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013, 12:24 PM
ILYA S. SAVENOK/GETTY IMAGES
Ann Curry described her final months at 'Today' as 'professional torture.' Colleagues reportedly mocked this yellow dress, comparing her to Big Bird on 'Sesame Street.'
Ann Curry's ouster from "Today" was no picnic, but, according to an excerpt from Brian Stelter's new book on the morning show wars, the public firing was only a portion of the humiliations the former talk show host suffered at the hands of her colleagues.
Executive producer Jim Bell even named the plot to oust Curry, 56, from her hosting spot of less than a year "Operation Bambi" after a friend told him firing the journalist would be like "killing Bambi."
PETER KRAMER/AP
Matt Lauer and Ann Curry didn't have much chemistry on-screen. 'I can't believe I'm sitting next to this woman,' he reportedly told a production assistant.
In a portion of the book that ran on nytimes.com on Thursday, Stelter reveals that Curry, who was forced to leave the show less than a year after she began as co-host, felt bullied and belittled by the "Today" crew.
"Curry felt that the boys' club atmosphere behind the scenes at 'Today' undermined her from the start, and she told friends that her final months were a form of professional torture," Stelter wrote.
NBC
Executive producer Jim Bell reportedly called Ann Curry's 'Today' ouster 'Operation Bambi.'
The snubs that Curry encountered included a blooper reel that the crew made of Curry's on-screen gaffes, and moving boxes of Curry's belongings into the coat closet, as if she had already been kicked out.
An unidentified "Today" staffer told Stelter that "a lot of time in the control room was spent making fun of Ann's outfit choices or just generally messing with her."
WNBC
Ann Curry announces her departure from the Today Show.
After Curry wore a bright yellow dress one morning, members of the control room supposedly Photoshopped a picture of Big Bird next to Curry and asked Today staff "who wore it best?"
Stelter paints Curry's time at "Today" as doomed from the beginning. Bell never wanted Curry to get the job in the first place, but worried that if the veteran journalist left, she might end up on another network as a direct competitor.
PETER KRAMER/AP
Ann Curry offered a tearful goodbye as co-host of NBC's 'Today.' According to Brian Stelter, the journalist has still not recovered from her firing.
Co-host Matt Lauer wasn't a fan of Curry's either. According to the excerpt, Lauer allegedly told a production assistant about Curry, "I can't believe I am sitting next to this woman."
Since her departure, Stelter reports that Curry has been keeping to herself at her Connecticut home.
"She still often woke before dawn as if she were about to go on the air," he wrote. "Some mornings, she cried as she read e-mail and Twitter messages from fans."
Stelter's book on the subject, "Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV,"
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/ann-curry-today-ouster-dubbed-operation-bambi-execs-article-1.1320479#ixzz2R38SWcer
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