Al Roker Slams 'Small-Minded Idiot' for Insulting Melissa McCarthy

Last week Rex Reed—the septuagenarian film critic who publishes the kind of reads that other vicious old queens would only say privately into a martini glass—wrote a negative review of Melissa McCarthy’s body, as seen in Identity Thief, calling it “tractor-sized,” referring to her as a “female hippo” and claiming she uses her weight as a “gimmick.” (He didn’t like the movie either.)

But the comedic actress has had the last laugh, as her film opened at number one at the box office this weekend with an impressive $36.6 million, despite an east coast blizzard. As The Hollywood Reporter points out, it’s “one of the top five openings of all time for an original R-rated comedy.”

Discussing the film’s success this morning on Today, Al Roker—who’s been getting really candid with us lately—let us know exactly what he thinks of Reed:

He hasn’t been relevant since Superman one. The ’70s called, you’re welcome to go back…He’s made a career of being small-minded and an idiot.

Perhaps Roker, who had gastric bypass surgery 10 years ago after spending a significant amount of his adult life obese, could identify with the kind of insults that McCarthy receives from the likes of people like Reed. Or maybe—unlike Reed—he was just being a gentlemen.