Tamron Hall stood by the motto “not all money is good money” as she reflected on her decision to walk away from NBC in 2017 after she was replaced in her 9 am slot by Megyn Kelly.
The daytime talk show host, who served as Today‘s third hour co-host alongside Natalie Morales, Al Roker, and Willie Geist from 2014 to 2017, opened up about her decision to leave NBC in a discussion with Scott Evans during a live show of his House Guest series.
“A text message came from my then-agent, and he said, ‘They’re making a big change. You’re no longer in. Here’s what they’re offering,'” Hall recalled, per People. “And he proceeded to bullet point in a text all these things that they were offering to keep me.”
At the time, Hall also worked at Dateline and MSNBC Live, and she was about to go live when the text came through. “I sit in a chair, and I go, I’m almost, like, blacking out because your whole life is flashing before you,” she said. “I gotta text my mama. That’s the first person I text. I text my mom and I said, ‘It’s done.'”
Hall shared that NBC offered her a $2 million-per-year contract to remain at the network in a lesser role. “I wrote my agent back, and I said, ‘I’ll pass,'” she added.
Evans was shocked at Hall’s decision to reject such a high-paying contract, but she told him, “All money’s not good money. It’s not.”
Hall also shared the message she received from her mom. “She said to me, ‘I am so proud of you because do you know how many times we’ve had to get off the sidewalk for someone else to walk?'”
The Daytime Emmy winner said she “thought about all the other young Black women in journalism, and I said, ‘If they see me lose, they may think they can’t win.’ And that day is why I turned it down. I’m not trying to sound like I’m a sacrifice or anything… and I understood that that did not define me.”
Kelly replaced Hall in February 2017, but her Today gig only lasted a year before she was dropped. This came following backlash to comments she made on Megyn Kelly Today, where she defended wearing blackface at Halloween as not being racist. “I defended the idea, saying as long as it was respectful and part of a Halloween costume, it seemed okay. Well I am wrong and I am sorry,” she later stated.
Hall, meanwhile, launched her self-titled daytime talk show, The Tamron Hall Show, in 2019. The show has been a huge success for Hall, earning her two Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host. The show was renewed for an eighth season in March.
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