Matt Lauer On Ann Curry: Lauer Speaks Out Against NBC’s Ousting Of ‘Today’ Anchor Curry, Says “You Don’t Have To Be Einstein To Know…We Didn’t Handle It Well”

Matt Lauer, the current anchor of the Today show, commented today on the ousting of anchor Ann Curry and on NBC's still-struggling ratings.

Matt Lauer has been accused by some to be the one who pushed Ann Curry out of the Today show lineup. Ann Curry had been promoted from newsreader to co-anchor, but only remained there for a year before NBC kicked her out, reportedly due to declining show ratings.

NBC replaced Curry with Savannah Guthrie. The move didn't increase viewership, as NBC had hoped.

Instead, the move drove viewers away and caused many to blame Lauer for Curry's exit.

Lauer told The Daily Beast, "I don't think the show and the network handled the transition well. You don't have to be Einstein to know that. ...It clearly did not help us. We were seen as a family, and we didn't handle that family matter well."

The Daily Beast story portrays Lauer as a voice of reason in the embarrassing story. But, insiders claim that Lauer struggled to build a rapport with Curry.

It was not a problem he had faced with previous co-hosts Katie Couric and Meredith Viera, but he still reportedly urged the network to postpone their firing of Curry while counseling Curry to get an agent.

"He was quietly and publicly a supporter of Ann's throughout the entire process, Steve Capus claimed. Capus is the former president of NBC News.

Capus continued, "It is unfair that Matt has shouldered an undue amount of blame for a decision he disagreed with."

Capus supported Curry accepting a different role as correspondent-at-large, in which she would travel the world covering hard-news stories.

Although Curry has said that co-hosting Today was her dream job, Capus told the Hollywood Reporter last summer that it wasn't the right fit for her skill set.

"I think it was not where her real passion was. In her heart of hearts, I think she would admit that. I think her real passion is built around reporting international stories. It's tough to convey a sincere interest in something if you don't possess it. We live in a HD world."

Capus continued, "Dan Rather used to say the camera never blinks. Well, this is an HD world now, and the camera picks up everything. And you could tell with her, you can tell with any anchor, whether they're into it or not. And I think we've now come up with a role that will play to her strengths."

Lauer asked Katie Couric to return to the show before Curry became co-host in 2011. However, NBC didn't want to support Couric's daytime talk show, so she moved to ABC.

"It really broke my heart...to see Ann, because I know she's suffering and is feeling a lot of pain with this transition, and I know that it's really hard for everyone on the show. I still have a lot of great friends that I made over those 15 years on the Today show, and this kind of tumult is really hard on everyone," Couric said of Ann's exit.

Now, Lauer claims the show is trying to focus less on scandalous news and more on feel-good human-interest stories.

Lauer told the Daily Beast, "It's a much more positive show, a more uplifting show. Much of the darkness is gone, by design."