Hoda Kotb Tears up During Surprise Heartwarming Performance on ‘Today’ Plaza

Hoda Kotb was left in tears following a surprise performance on the Today show this week. As Kotb, Carson Daily, and their co-hosts Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, and Sheinelle Jones stood outside on the plaza Wednesday, the long-time host of the NBC daytime show was serenaded by a musician who traveled to New York all the way from Ireland.

The surprise moment happened as Kotb began interacting with the crowd gathered outside of Today‘s studio. As the show came back from commercial break, the co-host told viewers, “By the way, there are a lot of people who traveled from far away to come here today. But, we think we’ve found the person who traveled the farthest,” as she went to the crowd to find Cian DuCrot. Kotb, however, certainly wasn’t expecting what came next.

We just had an extra heartwarming moment on the Plaza this morning! @Cian_ducrot stopped by to give @hodakotb, @SheinelleJones, @craigmelvin, @savannahguthrie, and @alroker a surprise! 🥺 pic.twitter.com/IKMRWf98un

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 19, 2023

As DuCrot raised his hand and Kotb walked over to him, DuCrot revealed that he “came all the way from Ireland” and told Kotb, “I actually brought something special for you if you don’t mind.” He then grabbed a guitar from someone behind him and began to sing his single “I’ll Be Waiting.” As he began to sing, the entirety of the crowd around him, which turned out to be an NYC-based choir, joined in, prompting a surprised “Oh,” from Kotb. At one point, Kotb could even be seen wiping away tears.

“What just happened?” Kotb asked as the performance ended, with Daily coming to her side to inform her, “This is not your average Today Show fan here. This is one of our aspiring great new voices coming out. This is Cian DuCrot.” According to Daily, DruCot opened up for Ed Sheeran and performed with the Jonas Brothers. Reacting to the special surprise, Kotb said, “This choir has me in tears. Oh my God! That was so beautiful. That was epic. Beautiful. Beautiful!”

Kotb wasn’t the only one pleasantly surprised by the performance. After the Today show uploaded the special moment across its social media accounts, viewers chimed in, one person commenting on Instagram, “Love love love this!! What I love even more is seeing people surprised with this all having the same reaction. This song just strikes a chord with so many and you can’t help but tear up.” Another viewer wrote, “Love this! Can we all just appreciate what an amazingly authentic individual Hoda is.” Somebody else asked, “Why does this make me cry?”