Former NBC "Today" anchor Matt Lauer offered his congratulations to Hoda Kotb after the network announced Kotb had accepted an offer to replace Lauer as Savannah Guthrie's co-anchor.
The news of Kotb's promotion made headlines Tuesday and between segments with Guthrie and her fourth hour show with Kathie Lee Gifford, Kotb talked about Lauer's kind words to E! News.
“He was sweet this morning. Certain texts popped up, and there was one from Matt: ‘Congratulations!'” she said Lauer texted. “And he said some nice words.”
Kotb continued, “It meant the world to me to hear from him. It was really nice.”
Lauer has remained out of the spotlight since he was fired from NBC News and “Today” in November. Kotb filled in next to Guthrie the morning his termination was announced and remained a temporary co-host until NBC made her a full-time offer just before the holidays.
>> Related: Here’s what ‘Today’ fans had to say about Hoda Kotb taking over for Matt Lauer full-time
"We're grateful to NBC for not having some old fashioned notion about what should be," Guthrie told People magazine. "I think they looked at it and said, 'Why would you change this? This is working, it feels good.'"
"When you click with someone, man, woman, it doesn't matter. If it works, it works," Kotb said of her relationship with her new co-host. "We're sort of like sisters, and everybody wants a sister."
Lauer was fired from NBC in November after a female colleague came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against him stemming from the Sochi winter Olympics.
The former "Today" anchor is reportedly focused on his family in the months since the allegations and has not publicly congratulated Kotb. Her fellow co-workers including Al Roker, Guthrie, Carson Daly and Kathie Lee Gifford all took to Twitter to sing Kotb's praises. Former "Today" anchor Tamron Hall also tweeted her congratulations.
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