The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took place on Thursday morning, and this year’s event was hosted by Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, who co-anchor the Today show on NBC.
Absent from the proceedings was Matt Lauer, who was fired from NBC for inappropriate behavior in November 2017 after he was accused of sexual harassment in the workplace. Several Twitter users couldn’t help but comment on his absence on Thursday, joking about Lauer’s absence and sharing their appreciation for it.
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“Some day in hell, Matt Lauer will be forced to narrate the Macy’s Day Parade Pikachu float script for eternity,” one user cracked.
“The parade this year should feature Matt Lauer walking the parade route in stocks and wearing a potato sack so people can throw produce at him,” someone else wrote. “It would be lit is what I’m trying to say.”
A third person tweeted, “What I’m most thankful for is watching the parade on NBC and never again having to see Matt Lauer and his stupid fedora.”
“Very thankful for the erasure of Matt Lauer from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” someone else wrote.
I bet Matt Lauer goes to Party City this time of year just to describe the balloons and keep his skills fresh.
— Karen Howell (@karenehowell) November 27, 2019
“The #MacysParade just isn’t the same without Matt Lauer.”
— Jarrett Bellini (@JarrettBellini) November 28, 2019
– Literally Nobody in America
Lauer had co-anchored Today alongside Guthrie and also co-hosted the Macy’s parade for a number of years with several co-hosts including Katie Couric, Al Roker and Guthrie. After his firing, he was replaced by Kotb, who now co-hosts Today with Guthrie.
Guthrie co-hosted the parade on Thursday after missing two days of work due to an injury she sustained to her right eye after her 2-year-old son accidentally hit her with the pointy end of a toy train while sitting in her lap.
The mom of two had an emergency procedure done on Monday after hosting Today with limited vision and was hopeful that she would be able to host the parade on Thursday.
“They’re essentially trying to weld back this tear in the retina very carefully, and really trying hard to avoid the retina detaching and avoid having to do a major surgery,” she told Today by phone on Wednesday.
“I’m not supposed to jump up and down or anything because it’s kind of like literally hanging by a thread,” she added. “But I’m very positive because I think it’s gonna be OK.”
Photo Credit: Getty / NBC
