When Matt Lauer and Kathie Lee Gifford Shared an Awkward Kiss for Charity

In a newly unearthed Today show clip, Matt Lauer is seen sharing a very awkward kiss with Kathie Lee Gifford for a charity stunt.

The footage depicts the duo taking on the “Twizzler challenge” which was a viral stunt where two people each take an end of a Twizzler in their mouth and eat until their lips touch or one gives up.

A few of the host’s on the Today show took on the challenge, with Lauer and Gifford being among the first to try it, after Meredith Viera and Willie Geist.

Around the two-minute mark in the above video you can see the two start the challenge and bite down until they’ve completely devoured the red liquorice and end up kissing.

Then, however, there’s a moment of surprise between the two of them and they kiss again, for fun, but it’s incredibly awkward. Everyone has a good laugh, but in light of the new sexual misconduct allegations against Lauer, the clip feels even more awkward.

In a recent interview with Megyn Kelly, Lauer‘s mistress opened up and revealed details of her “first physical encounter” with the disgraced Today show host.

After being asked if the encounter took place when he invited her back to his dressing room, Addie Collins Zinone confirmed that it did, and added that she felt a lot of “confusion” and was “overwhelmed.”

She explained that the two of them had just come back from a lunch together where she could tell he wanted to take things in a personal direction rather than professional, and she messaged him saying that she was “nervous” and didn’t understand what was happening between them.

Lauer allegedly replied to her by inviting her to meet him in his dressing room.

Zinone stated that even though she felt trepidation, she went to Lauer’s dressing room anyway because she was young and didn’t have anyone else to confide her feelings in.

“In that moment, I didn’t have anybody to sort of share my fears and confusion with except for him because what am I going to say to people,” Zinone said.

She then went on to reveal that this became their first sexual encounter with one another but that it wasn’t their last.