Why Tamron Hall walked away from ‘Today Show’

A source close to Tamron Hall said the decision to leave MSNBC was made because she was blindsided by the move to replace her and saw it as a demotion.

TheGrio Staff

Feb 9, 2017

Last week, Today Show fans were shocked and disappointed when Tamron Hall abruptly announced that she was leaving the show after it was announced that Megyn Kelly would be coming into the Today Show and displacing Hall from her third hour slot.

The network expressed disappointment that Hall had decided to leave, and they reportedly even offered her millions of dollars to stay with them, but Hall left all the same.

A source close to Hall told People that the decision was made to leave because Hall was blindsided by the move to replace her and saw it as a demotion.

“Just a few days before all of this happened, she received an email [from an exec] congratulating the team for being number one,” the source said. “Then all of a sudden, it was like it vanished: Megyn Kelly is coming onboard, and who’s going to have to move? Tamron. That’s who.”

Because Hall had not been offered anything comparable to make up for losing her highest profile role, she saw the move as a demotion and was hurt, which contributed to her decision to walk away.

“She wasn’t going to settle for sitting on the sidelines,” the source said. “She basically said thank you, but no thank you.”