Megyn Kelly ‘Threw a Fit’ Over Katie Couric’s Olympics Gig

NBC News newbie Megyn Kelly “threw an Olympic fit” when the network offered Katie Couric the job of anchoring the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

Sources close to NBC told Page Six that when Kelly signed her $23 million annual contract last spring, she insisted that she could not be forced to anchor special events, including the Pyeongchang winter games, which begins February 9.

But after longtime Today host Matt Lauer was terminated by the network in November, Kelly assumed she would be next in line to cover his events, including the Olympics, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and more.

“She thought she had it all played out perfectly, by saying ‘no’ before the Matt Lauer scandal. [The network was] stupid enough to put in her contract that she could say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” the source said.

But after executives offered the job to Couric, a former Today co-host alongside Lauer from 1997 to 2006, Kelly whined about her snub after being overlooked.

“[Kelly] complained to her staff, she complained to her agent, so that [NBC News Chairman Andy Lack] would hear about the fact that she was unhappy, but he didn’t care,” the insider claimed. Kelly is scheduled to continue her weekday 9 a.m. broadcast from New York, while colleagues Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker will host the 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. hours from South Korea.

The insider added that Lack, who originally signed Kelly in January 2017, has finally realized she is “a diva” and that “she’s not going to be part of the NBC News… inner circle.”

But another NBC News source told Page Six there is “zero truth” to these claims, adding that it is “laughable since [the opening ceremony] is the least desirable gig in broadcasting, given the inevitable brutal reviews.”

The insider also denied the claim that Lack, who personally fired Lauer following a complaint of sexual misconduct, thinks that Kelly is a “diva.”

“No one at NBC has ever heard him use the word ‘diva’ about anyone,” the source disputed.

Kelly has been a controversial figure for the network since she began Megyn Kelly Today in September, but the drama came to a head earlier this month when she blasted ‘Hanoi Jane’ Fonda in an on-air rant.

The host reportedly “stunned” NBC News executives after she attacked 80-year-old Fonda for criticizing an interview they shared in September, during which Kelly asked her about plastic surgery. Kelly responded by slamming Fonda’s “moral indignation” and her history as an anti-war advocate.

“The problem is that nobody at NBC is controlling Megyn. They paid her more than $20 million to host the 9 a.m. show, and she’s been given too much power. But the fact remains: You can’t say those things, or be so aggressive, on morning TV,” an insider at the network said at the time.