An NBC insider tells Page Six that the new face of Today, Hoda Kotb, will make $18 million less than the man she replaced, but the same amount as her co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. Kotb and Guthrie’s reported salaries are $7 million each—nice paychecks, sure, but a far cry from Lauer’s $25 million.
These numbers, if they are legitimate, point out the problems NBC has not only with the gender wage gap, but with overvaluing onscreen talent and throwing their money at people who haven’t necessarily earned their keep. Lauer’s payday only increased as his reputation among staffers soured over the years, and Megyn Kelly reportedly received a cool $20 million to host a format she had no experience with, after leaving a network where she was known for saying things like, “Santa is just white.”
Again, $7 million is a huge amount of money, but when you’re doing Matt Lauer’s old job and sitting next to Kathie Lee Gifford for an hour every weekday, it feels like NBC really got a bargain.
[Page Six]
I wish I could copy and paste this entire Page Six story about Brad Pitt flirting with a woman at a Los Angeles coffee shop and introducing himself as William (his first name), but that would be rude to Page Six, so I’ll just share this one line and make you click for the rest.
Pitt struck up a conversation with a blonde in line: “She was acting overly bubbly and looked a little like Kate Bosworth, but it wasn’t her,” our spy says.
She looked like Kate Bosworth..........but wasn’t. What a treat this story is.
[Page Six]
Oy.
- Meghan and Harry “were partying like tycoons on New Year’s Day” in Monaco. [Celebitchy]
- Kim Kardashian will not keep jewelry in her new home. [TMZ]
- Here’s a photo of Halsey having a good time on a boat. [Twitter]
- I would like this story to go away. [Page Six]
- A great headline. [Celebitchy]