Disgraced Anchor Matt Lauer Erased From ‘Today’ 25th Anniversary Celebration

Deleting his existence. Today celebrated quite the milestone on Thursday, June 20, when they looked back at 25 years of the show since it moved to studio 1A in New York — but there was someone missing from a nostalgic montage they aired: Matt Lauer.

The NBC news show decided to air a five and a half minute clip showing everything from highlights to bloopers to some of the program’s hosts that have graced our TV screens for the last quarter century. However, fans noticed that the disgraced anchor, 61, was completely deleted from memory — and there’s a reason for that too.

When TODAY first moved to Studio 1A in 1994, it became a place where the team could try new things and connect with viewers.

Take a look back on some of those special moments over the past 25 years. pic.twitter.com/km1cbuMeAB

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 20, 2019

Back in November 2017, the world was shocked to not only hear that Matt had been accused of sexually harassing a colleague, but that he had a history of sexual misconduct at the network. His coanchor at the time, Savannah Guthrie, was clearly shaken up by the chaos.

“This is a sad morning for us at Today show and at NBC News,” the broadcast journalist said at the time. “Just moments ago, NBC chairman Andy Lack sent the following note to our organization: ‘On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. It represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company’s standards. As a result, we’ve decided to terminate his employment. While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.’”

Hoda Kotb would eventually take over for Matt, officially ending his tenure. While he has been erased from Today‘s history, some of his former coworkers do stay in contact with the former TV personality. “We keep in touch with him. I mean, look, this is one of those complex situations,” Hoda told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve known him since I started working at NBC. When I was sick with breast cancer, he was the first to call. He helps and helped in ways that … you know, he was incredible in that way. There is that Matt and then there’s the Matt that the accusers speak of.”

No word yet on what is next for Matt, but don’t expect a TV comeback, as no one wants him back. “Matt shouldn’t be picky, but the few offers he got were embarrassing … He’s gotten some random web show offers, but that’s not something he’s going to do. If he accepted a web series, he’d get even more negative press,” a source once told In Touch Weekly.