Most celebrities in Hollywood have had some kind of relationship with the Today show over
the years, and as such, many famous faces have crossed paths with former host Matt Lauer.
And some of them have formed some pretty strong opinions about the famous newsman.
In the wake of his shocking termination in November 2017, let's take a closer look at
some celebs who can't seem to get along with Matt Lauer.
Corey Feldman
As Hollywood continues to flounder under a growing wave of allegations about sexual harassment,
many celebs are striving to keep the conversation going.
Actor Corey Feldman, who claims he was victimized as a child, has launched a crowdfunding plea
to make a movie detailing abuse within the industry.
Feldman's approach attracted a lot of attention and landed him an invite to the Today show
for an interview with Lauer.
In the interview, Lauer questioned why Feldman originally wanted $10 million dollars, and
he pressed the actor to uphold his promise to name names, which Feldman would not do.
Maybe that's why the Stand by Me star couldn't resist taking a shot at Lauer after his firing
when he tweeted: "Interesting.
This might explain the hostile interview while I was trying 2 expose the #truth…
Eh Matt?"
Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan has long been vocal against abuse in show business, and she for one applauded
Lauer's exit.
She tweeted: "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Matt Lauer."
McGowan ended the tweet with #ROSEARMY, a reference to her initiative to encourage victims
to speak out.
Keith Olbermann
Political pundit Keith Olbermann used Lauer's termination to condemn not only the man, but
also the management team that Olbermann thinks provided cover for Lauer for years.
Olbermann tweeted that his former NBC colleague was "vindictive and tyrannical to everyone
at NBC News and management repeatedly enabled him and buried the issue."
Kathy Griffin
The day Matt Lauer was fired, Comedian Kathy Griffin tweeted: "Matt Lauer has been on my
list for a while."
She also took the opportunity to plug her stand-up, which has often bashed those accused
of abusing their power.
The tweet continued to say: "It's really too bad more Americans don't come to my shows.
I pretty much recite the list in every show.
Haha.
I told you, my memory is long, my friends.
I've been around a long time…"
Tom Cruise
A-list celeb Tom Cruise doesn't hate Lauer, but he did at one point find him to be glib—and
it made for an awkward encounter.
In 2005, while Cruise was promoting War of the Worlds, the actor stopped by Today for
an interview with Lauer that devolved into Cruise denouncing the use of antidepressants
and popularizing his Scientology-influenced anti-psychology beliefs.
"There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance."
"So a post-partum depression to you is..
"Matt.
Don't be..."
Scientific gobbly-gook?"
After the interview, Cruise reportedly fought to have his controversial words taken off
the air to no avail, and Lauer later said there was a year-long "Cold War period" between
the two.
Ann Curry
Former Today host Ann Curry has never come out and publicly said that she "hates" her
old colleague, but when you add up all the gossip about these two, there's a pretty strong
case for Curry not being able to stand Lauer.
Lauer is widely reported to have been the driving force behind Curry's emotional ousting
from the show in 2012.
An NBC source told Page Six: "Ann and Matt never made up after her firing.
He believes the way she handled it made him look terrible, while she believes Matt played
a major role in her downfall."
Brian Williams
Rumor has it that fellow newsman Brian Williams and Lauer were fiercely competitive during
their time together on NBC–and not in a good way.
In 2014, Page Six reported that Williams allegedly refused to even introduce segments for the
Today show because he supposedly wanted nothing to do with advancing Lauer's career.
One source claimed Williams felt "like an orphan" because Lauer and his show were getting
all the attention, although another NBC source denied such a feud existed.
Considering Williams was demoted in 2015 after he admitted that his "ego" drove him to embellish
the news, perhaps he'll have some words of wisdom to share with Lauer as he attempts
to rebuild his own reputation.
Hillary Clinton
Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is still smarting over an encounter
with Lauer during a high-stakes moment in the 2016 presidential election.
Lauer served as the moderator in a televised "Commander in Chief Forum" on NBC in September
2016.
During the program, Lauer questioned Clinton about her use of a private email server during
her time as secretary of state—an issue Clinton hoped would not be raised to any significant
extent.
Clinton recalled that interaction with Lauer in her 2017 memoir, What Happened, saying
the experience left her wanting to "shake some sense" into him.
She went on to write,
"The clock was ticking, and my thirty minutes to discuss serious foreign policy challenges
was slipping away."
Kanye West
In 2010, Kanye West had a heated face-to-face confrontation with Lauer on Today.
At the time, West had garnered bad publicity for his infamous Taylor Swift mic-snatch at
the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards and for some of his comments during a live telethon for
victims of Hurricane Katrina.
"George Bush doesn't care about black people."
The rapper grew frustrated when Today replayed clips from those moments during his interview
with Lauer.
"Please don't let that happen again.
That's ridiculous."
The whole interview seemed to rub West the wrong way, with Lauer seemingly pressing the
embattled star for an apology of some sort.
Though West emphasized that he did not hate Lauer, the rapper did tweet that his experience
with the host left him feeling, quote, "very alone very used very tortured very forced
very misunderstood very hollow very very misused."
Thanks for watching!
Click the Nicki Swift icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!