Katie Couric says Bryant Gumbel had an ‘incredibly sexist attitude’ about her maternity leave on Today show

38 comments

1. Considering he was buddies with Matt Lauer I bet there is far more than we know about Bryant’s behavior.

2. It’s easy to speak-up 30 years later.

3. Who gives a fuck?

4. She clearly stated he was joking when she told this story to Maher on the Club Random podcast

5. Woman: Sexism

   Reddit: Crying and shitting

   Must be a day that ends in “Y”

6. I’ve heard the same rumors from people on the Gumble 2 Gumble: Beach Justice set.

7. Not going to lie when my coworker get two 30 min breaks a day to “pump” plus her 2 regular 15 min breaks and since we salary both come in and leave at the same time I do get a little jealous.

   Also Now she has a kid she uses it as an excuse to work from home 2 days a week while I have to come in 5 days.

8. There should be a statute of limitations for how long a woman can decide whether or not to be offended by something.

9. I’m or surprised to hear he was a piece of shit.

10. All of those morning shows are garbage

11. He made fun of Jerry Seinfeld’s wardrobe

12. He has been open about his demanding and hostile demeanor during his time as the host of the Today show, especially towards his co-hosts like Jane Pauley and Willard Scott. He seemed to have mellowed out some in the decades since.

13. Bland Gumball always seemed sleezey to me.

14. Hey Reddit, Why am I getting headlines from the ‘90s?

15. He was trash panda like the other little guy who got booted, matt lauer. NBC culture was out of control. Looking doors for secual favors. WTF???

    Can we blame the GE leadership model for poor controls. Sure seemed to have a lot of high profile bull shit going on there.

16. Of course he did.

17. Aw man. Are they going to cancel gumbel to gumbel again??

18. So he made some off putting jokes. That’s not good, but also doesn’t necessarily seem that bad. If he failed to work with women or did something worse, yeah he’d deserve hate. But this is lame.

    That said, when they ended Real Sports, he did bitch about young reporters not doing long form reporting and that pissed me off. Like my man, you’re in the position to give young reporters a spot to do your craft at a high level. Yet, you stick with over the hill 60+ reporters who are amazing, but you do jack shit for young up and coming reporters.

    There are plenty of young documentarians and sports reporters who would’ve loved to do real sports. And there are plenty of us who love the reporting. They just did a shit job of promoting their stories.

19. I’m sceptible of these accusations these days.

20. [deleted]

21. With a name like Bryant, of course

22. Didn’t she also know what a POS her co-host was and never spoke up? Everyone’s got issues, some clearly worse than others.

23. I watched the Today show growing up (parents choice) and my impression of Bryant Gumble was that he came off as an arrogant elitist prick.

24. Boy, guess he really does look like Malcolm X when compared to Wayne Brady.

25. Greg is the real GOAT Gumbel

26. Are they still alive?

27. Back in my day, 52F, you were expected to basically deliver it in the bathroom stall and return to your desk. Honestly, though, I remember one woman coming back three days after giving birth. Not even physically recovered, nursing, putting a 3 day old baby in daycare-we didn’t even think much about it at the time. It’s what everyone did if they didn’t have much vacation. Now I look back and shudder.

28. “White people love Wayne Brady, because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcom X”

29. Arrogant prick. Always thought so. Matt Lauer was also one but hid it mostly well.

    David Alan Grier roasted Gumbel something fierce even in a Today Show sketch when he guested on SNL It has since strangely disappeared from YouTube.

30. I believe it. He always seemed like a massive orifice, even to his brother Greg

31. Because he wanted to be the daddy.

32. Who gives a shit? Ancient history.

33. who seriously cares about these acient douche bags

34. Gumbel always came off as a dick…..remember him trashing Willard Scott and Gene Shalit in a memo leaked to producers? Allowing Deborah Norville to twist in the wind after she replaced Jane Pauley? Katie Couric is no prize herself. She is shrill, gossipy and has bounced between many networks when she wears out her welcome and ruins the various programs she hosts. Her last big gig was working for Yahoo News……yes, really, Yahoo News.

35. i’m shocked to read this given his pompous attitude every time i see him on air.

36. Never not an asshole.

37. He always came across as smug and condescending to me

38. Well yeah. That was circa 1990s I think? Everyone had an attitude about maternity leave, even other women that couldn’t take maternity leave in their time (or not having children) were against it.

    The maternity leave as standard for most corporate positions (everyone one basically sol) is essentially a late ‘00 to early ‘10 concept. Men taking the time too is still not been around that long.

    Context of the times matter. Which would think a reporter would know and provide. Really she was always just a newsreader, her producers and staff did the actual legwork.

    Don’t care about Gumbel one way or other but shitty thing for her to invite attack on him by bringing up essentially ancient history without providing proper context.