In 2017, television veteran, Tamron Hall left NBC’s Today’s Take after the network made changes to their lineup. She had been with them for a decade.
55-year-old Hall was talking to Scott Evans when the subject came up.
Hall was replaced by Megyn Kelly, who was given a 3-year $69 million contract. But in 2019, Kelly was let go amid controversy over her remarks about blackface, but NBC had to pay her the balance of her contract, which was $30 million.
Hall recalled the moment she turned down the $2 million a year she was offered to stay on her show.
“A text message came from my then agent, and he said: ‘They are making a big change, and you’re no longer in. Here’s what they’re offering’… what they’re offering to keep me,” said Hall.
“I wrote my agent back and I said ‘I’ll pass’. It was $2 million a year,” continued Hall, much to Evan’s surprise.
“Because all money is not good money,” she qualified herself when Evans paused to understand her reasoning.
“Let me tell you about the type of faith and self-assuredness you have to have… cos I’d some’ strange for a piece of change,” said Evans, to the audience’s amusement.
“… Soon after my mother said ‘Do you know how many times we’ve had to get off the sidewalk for someone else to walk,” said Hall.
And I thought all the other black women in journalism and I said: ‘If they see me lose, they may think they can’t win… that’s why I turned it down. I’m not trying to say I was a sacrifice or anything like that.”
“You understood your position on one of the top morning shows in the world,” added Evans.
“And I understood that that did not define me,” said Hall.
Tamron Hall now
Hall is married to Steve Greener and they have a son together.
Since 2019, Hall has been hosting her own daytime talk show Tamron Hall Show, where she’s interviewed scores of celebrities and talked on all sorts of topics.