Kermit the Frog Surprises Hoda Kotb and Her Daughters With ‘Rainbow Connection’ Serenade on Her Final Day of ‘Today’

The Today show pulled out all the stops Friday as it celebrated departing co-anchor Hoda Kotb. Among a number of celebrity guests to make an appearance during the 8 a.m. hour was Kermit the Frog, who serenaded Kotb and her two daughters – Hayley, 7, and Hope, 5 – to a performance of “The Rainbow Connection,” the very song Kotb sings to her children every night.

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Kermit’s surprise appearance came at the end of the 8 a.m. hour of the show as Haley and Hope joined their mother on set. The mother-daughter trio, as well as the rest of the Today cast, joined the beloved Muppet in singing the tune, with an emotional Kotb seen wiping away tears. At the end of the performance, Kermit sweetly said his “favorite thing” about Kotb was her smile.

“You’ve got such a great smile. It really lights up a room, doesn’t it?” he said. “Hoda, you truly do make every day as beautiful as a rainbow.”

Kotb announced her decision to leave Today after 17 years in September. At the time, she explained that her decision was spurred by her 60th birthday and a desire to spend more time with her daughters.

“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new,” she said. “I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, ‘This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.’ And I thought it can’t get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on.”

She added, “I obviously had my kiddos late in life and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have. I feel like we only have a finite amount of time. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.”

During the first hour of Friday’s “Hoda-bration,” a number of celebrities stopped by the Today set to celebrate Kotb as she embarks on her next chapter, including Dwyane Wade, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristin Chenoweth, Simone Biles, and Maria Shriver. Keith Morrison, whom Kotb worked with on Dateline, also celebrated Kotb, saying she “was very kind. She listened. Over the years, I’ve seen her be kind to all kinds of people and that makes me feel very happy. We will miss our Hoda.” Meanwhile, in a pre-recorded message, Oprah Winfrey said, “whatever you decide to do in your next chapter, in the next adventure, it will be the best decision for you and for your family.”

Joining her co-anchors, daughters, and fans in the Rockefeller Center Plaza at the end of the hour, Kotb said, “Can I say thank you to every person who came out here? I read your cards. I got your bracelets. I got the scarves you crocheted. I got everything. I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.” She also thanked Today executive vice president Libby Leist.