It took a long time, but NBC finally removed photos of Matt Lauer from a public Today Show website.
Page Six spotted the image of the disgraced former host on beta.today.com, a site accessible to the public. The image, which showed Lauer with co-host Savannah Guthrie, was dropped after the site contacted NBC about it.
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“It was an outdated test version of the site created years ago,” an insider told Page Six.
The Wayback Machine, a site that keeps archived versions of websites, shows the image with Lauer still on the beta Today site as recently as last week.
NBC News fired Lauer back in November 2017 after a woman accused him of sexual misconduct during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Scohi, Russia. In the days after his firing, more women came forward to accuse Lauer of misconduct.
Lauer was replaced with Hoda Kotb.
Just last week, Page Six also reported that The Palm, a famous New York City restaurant well-known for its wall covered with caricatures of famous diners, removed the drawing of Lauer “about a month ago.”
Earlier this month, Entertainment Tonight reported that Lauer is now leading a “lonely” life and has not been to his Manhattan apartment recently.
“The Hamptons has been a good place for him to hide, but he isn’t sure he will stay,” a source told ET. “Matt definitely regrets his behavior. He lost not only his family, but his career and many of his closest friends. The Today Show was his life.”
Lauer is also in the process of divorcing his wife, Annette Roque, who is living in her native Netherlands with their two youngest children. When she was seen in New York City recently, she went to a law office without her wedding ring.
“Annette is done playing the role of Matt’s loyal wife,” the source told ET. “Their marriage is completely over. At this point, all they have left to do is to settle their divorce and to separate their assets. The last two years of their marriage were hell. Annette had to hear about Matt’s wandering eye incessantly. People noticed his focus seemed to be all about his career and life in New York, certainly not about making his marriage work.”
Lauer is reportedly still hopeful for a media comeback.
Photo credit: NBC
