Former NBC star Katie Couric opened up on the “sexist attitude” she received from her “Today” colleague Bryant Gumbel, particularly about her going on maternity leave.
On Sunday’s installment of the “Club Random” podcast, host Bill Maher spoke fondly of his “friend” Gumbel, who he described as a “guy’s guy.”
“He is a guy’s guy. He is a guy’s guy, you got that right. He is,” Couric said with a giant grin.
“He was prickly but I mean, what a talent,” she then said. “He’s such a seamless broadcaster, eloquent, When that countdown would happen, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, he would just hit it perfect.”
“Smooth as silk,” Maher told Couric.
“Right? Complicated guy, though, I think,” Couric added, hinting at the past tensions she had with him.
After Maher speculated that Gumbel was “mad” at him over politics since he hasn’t reached out in recent years as often as he did, Couric shared how Gumbel was actually “mad” at her when the two of them worked at Rockefeller Center.
“He got mad at me because I was doing something on maternity leave,” Couric said. “And he was giving me endless s— for taking like a month or two off. I was having my first baby.”
“Yeah, I could see that” Maher chimed in.
“He was like, ‘Why don’t you just drop it in the field and come back to work right away or something?’” Couric continued. “It was really-“
“That sounds like he was kidding,” Maher reacted after a chuckle.
“No, he was kidding,” Couric agreed. “He was goofing on me but giving me a lot of s— but it was emblematic of an incredibly sexist attitude.”
Maher then invoked Couric’s other “Today” colleague Matt Lauer, who was ousted for sexual misconduct allegations during the Me Too movement.
“Well, obviously, there was a tradition of an old boys’ network,” Maher said.
“Yes, yes,” Couric nodded. “It was a very different environment, very different. And lots of fraternization, a polite way of saying inner-office schtupping.”
“And women had to put up with more. They just did,” Maher said. “I mean, you know, not to get all fuzzy and Lifetime Channel about it, but people like you and Barbara Walters or just like women comedians of a certain age, you have to really tip your hat to them because it was harder.”
“Yeah, it was,” Couric said.
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Representatives for Gumbel did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital‘s request for comment.
Gumbel began anchoring “Today” in 1982 and was joined by Couric in 1991. He left the show in 1997 and went to work at CBS and helmed HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” until its end in December. Couric left NBC in 2006 and went on to serve as the first female anchor of a national evening newscast on “CBS Evening News,” followed by stints at ABC and Yahoo News before launching her own media company.
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