Hoda Kotb’s days-long absence from her duties at NBC’s “Today” was explained Wednesday morning: She is dealing with a “family health matter.”
Craig Melvin,. Sheinelle Jones and Al Roker, who were on set during Wednesday’s broadcast, didn’t offer additional details, but Melvin said the “Today” co-anchor had been out for several days due to the situation. He added that NBC News hoped both she and Savannah Guthrie, who left the “Today” set on Tuesday due to being diagnosed with coronavirus while at the show, would return “very, very soon.”
Kotb has been absent from the show for more than a week, a streak that has been noticed by show observers and the subject of a handful of news reports. Some of the articles have made mention of the inspirational messages Kotb often posts via social media, trying to imply there was something more cryptic about them or that they offered commentary on whatever conditions had kept her off the show.
The interim departure of the show’s regular co-anchors comes after “Today’ defeated ABC rival “Good Morning America” in the critical advertiser-favored demographic — people between 25 and 54 — for the first time in five weeks. “Today” and “GMA” are locked in an eternal battle for dominance among A.M. audiences ,but “Today,” which once dominated its rival in the advertiser demo, has been trying to parry against an incursion by “GMA” in the category.