David Gregory: ‘I Don’t Miss NBC’; They Were Afraid I’d Have ‘Ann Curry Moment’

September 9th, 2015 12:17 PM

Appearing on Wednesday’s CBS This Morning, former Meet the Press moderator David Gregory shared the inside story of his 2014 ouster from NBC: “Things happen in television news, we know that. It's a tough business....it’s just that it was handled in way that was unnecessary. NBC made a business decision which you can agree with or disagree with and it just didn't need to be handled that way....I don't miss NBC, I don't miss being there. It was just the wrong atmosphere for me.”

Co-host Norah O’Donnell, a former NBC colleague of Gregory’s, observed: “I mean, you write really candidly in this book about sort of the bloodletting that went on....you talk about there were the leaks, you know, going on saying that ‘David may be out of Meet the Press’...”

Gregory explained: “NBC was concerned that if they had let me have a last show to thank the audience that I was going to somehow go after them.” Co-host Gayle King interjected: “They called it an ‘Ann Curry moment.’” Gregory continued: The Ann Curry moment of the Today show, and that they wanted to avoid that. That was never going to happen. So they leaked the fact that they had made a decision for me to go....that was obviously upsetting to see that they had handled it that way.”

A quote appeared on screen from Gregory’s new book, How’s Your Faith?, about the contentious time: “...NBC had decided it didn’t want to risk another ‘Ann Curry moment,’ which has become a byword in the TV business for an on-air embarrassment, after Curry’s long and tearful farewell from her job as Today show cohost.”

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Later in the segment, Gregory tried to set the record straight on whether he left NBC or was fired:

You know, for the record, was I fired? The truth is that I was not going to be fired then, but I felt I was going to be. And it was complicated, I had said to NBC, “Look, you know, if you don't shore me up” – this is Washington, there’s blood in the water – “if you don’t shore me up because leaks that are coming from within NBC are very hurtful to me, it's getting in the way of what we’re trying to do for the show. So if you’re not prepared to do that,” and they were not prepared to shore me up over the longer term, then I felt it was time for me to go.

Despite all the discussion of internal strife at NBC, none of the CBS hosts asked Gregory about ex-NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams.  

During the exchange, Gregory candidly admitted personal failings:

I just tried to internalize what I take away from it, what I could have done a little bit better in terms of how I treated people so that people might have been rooting for me a little bit more, both within NBC and the broader community....And I think I was so consumed and self-absorbed, as this business can make you, that I didn't think enough about communicating to people, “Hey, if I'm doing well, you're doing well, we're doing this together.” And I think – so some people were not unhappy to see me get some comeuppance. So I think I had to learn something from that, and I talk about dealing with anger in the book, which I think a lot of people share.

Here is a transcript of a portion of the September 9 segment:

8:33 AM ET

(...)

NORAH O’DONNELL: When I said “his abrupt departure.” You sort of laughed and you said what?  

DAVID GREGORY: Thanks a lot, Norah. You mean I’ve left?

GAYLE KING: No, what you said is, it was no so abrupt.

O’DONNELL: It wasn’t abrupt. I mean, you write really candidly in this book about sort of the bloodletting that went on.

GREGORY: Yeah. It was – you know, it was unpleasant. Things happen in television news, we know that. It's a tough business. And you know, the only thing I'd say about it, I don't want to go back and revisit it, it’s just that it was handled in way that was unnecessary. NBC made a business decision which you can agree with or disagree with and it just didn't need to be handled that way. And the process of it was difficult. And I try to, you know, rather than get into all the nastiness of it, I just tried to internalize what I take away from it, what I could have done a little bit better in terms of how I treated people so that people might have been rooting for me a little bit more, both within NBC and the broader community.

KING: You talked very candidly, though, about – that you were a hot-head, that people saw you as arrogant, that you were an opportunist out for yourself. And you even said, “Listen, maybe if I had given more I would have received more in the end.” But in the end, you said, David, it was –  as upsetting as it was, and the end there was peace for you.

GREGORY: Well, right, I mean there’s peace because as much as I miss the work, as much as I miss covering the stories that you're all talking about and doing a great job on this show every morning, I don't miss NBC, I don't miss being there. It was just the wrong atmosphere for me. And again, Gayle, I mean, I think what I was getting at is – and I worked with Norah a long time. I mean, I think, you know, Norah was-  

O’DONNELL: You missed me though?

GREGORY: I did miss Norah. And she’s frankly a bigger diva than I was. No, but we-

[LAUGHTER]

DICKERSON: Was that a knowing laugh?

O’DONNELL: That’s a lot coming from David.

GREGORY: But we had a good relationship to. But to be serious, I mean, I really, I do think that, you know, I started in television when I was 25. I was on the air when I was 18. And I think I was so consumed and self-absorbed, as this business can make you, that I didn't think enough about communicating to people, “Hey, if I'm doing well, you're doing well, we're doing this together.” And I think – so some people were not unhappy to see me get some comeuppance. So I think I had to learn something from that, and I talk about dealing with anger in the book, which I think a lot of people share.

KING: You own it, yeah,

O’DONNELL: But David, you talk about there were the leaks, you know, going on saying that “David may be out of Meet the Press" and then you had, you know, the president of NBC saying, “No, we stand behind him.” And then you found out – you tell the story, it's a page turner, the book is really beautifully written – but you tell the story about how you're on the way to camp, take your son to camp, and all of a sudden in a tweet you learn-

GREGORY: So we were picking up our three kids, whom you know, from sleep-away camp in New Hampshire. This had been building. And as we’re driving up, NBC was concerned that if they had let me have a last show to thank the audience that I was going to somehow go after them. And you know, they had thought about this-

KING: They called it an “Ann Curry moment.”

GREGORY: The Ann Curry moment of the Today show, and that they wanted to avoid that. That was never going to happen. So they leaked the fact that they had made a decision for me to go. You have this here.

[ON-SCREEN QUOTE: “...NBC had decided it didn’t want to risk another ‘Ann Curry moment,’ which has become a byword in the TV business for an on-air embarrassment, after Curry’s long and tearful farewell from her job as Today show cohost.”]  

So that's a reference to the Ann Curry moment. So, you know, that was obviously upsetting to see that they had handled it that way. But mostly, and I think this goes to the larger point of the book, which is, you know, in a moment like that, that was a real moment of testing. It was not the beginning of my faith journey, but it was a moment to say, “Well, then who do I want to be in this moment for my kids? What does God expect of me in this moment? And who do I ultimately want to be?” And that’s where I tried to stay above the fray and express my thanks to the audience.

KING: No, but I love your kids saying, “Are we going have to move out of our house?” And then the other one says, “Were you fired?” And in the end, they started bickering so you knew your kids would be all right. But I love-

GREGORY: But can I just say something about that because this has come up in other interviews. You know, for the record, was I fired? The truth is that I was not going to be fired then, but I felt I was going to be. And it was complicated, I had said to NBC, “Look, you know, if you don't shore me up” – this is Washington, there’s blood in the water – “if you don’t shore me up because leaks that are coming from within NBC are very hurtful to me, it's getting in the way of what we’re trying to do for the show. So if you’re not prepared to do that,” and they were not prepared to shore me up over the longer term, then I felt it was time for me to go.

(...)