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Don Lemon has high hopes for Matt Lauer’s future.
Seven years after the “Today” show anchor was fired from NBC over sexual misconduct allegations, Lemon insisted that “the public misses him.”
At 58 years old, a former CNN journalist shared on the “Hollywood Raw” podcast that during outings with Matt Lauer and his partner, Shamin Abas, he witnessed firsthand that people and women admire and support him.
“They’re like, ‘Man, oh my God, can I get a picture? I love you. I miss you on television,’” Lemon said.
After acknowledging that “it’s the people inside the business who are afraid of” Lauer, Lemon noted, “Maybe there is a way that he’ll come back.
Expressing his belief in Lauer’s potential comeback in the digital world, he mentioned that if given the opportunity, Lauer could pave his own path and be accepted by the public.
Lemon, who predicted that “people would watch [Lauer] and … the ratings would be great,” connected with Lauer “after the whole situation happened.”
Lauer and Abas attended Lemon’s New York City wedding to husband Tim Malone in April 2024.
At the time, Us Weekly reported that Lauer “want[ed] to get back into the media” and had “started to talk to people.”
According to a source, Lauer is contemplating his next venture, still grappling with feeling misrepresented and maintaining that he was the one wronged. Determined to regain relevance, he is in the process of deciding what that comeback will entail.
The previous year, Page Six reported that Lauer “thinks that he should be able to have a comeback” on his “own terms.”
In 2017, Lauer was dismissed from “Today” over former NBC employee Brooke Nevils’ rape allegation.
When Ronan Farrow wrote about the allegations in “Catch and Kill,” Lauer slammed the reporting as “flawed” and hit back at the “rush to judgment” over the alleged assault.
“I was shaken, but not surprised, that few in the media were willing to thoroughly challenge the accusations against me, or the person making them,” he wrote at the time.
Lauer started dating Abas, that same year, two years after splitting from wife Annette Roque, with whom he shares Jack, 23, Romy, 21, and Thijs, 18.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.