‘Today Show’ Hosts Poke Fun At ‘Totally Erroneous’ Rumors That They Have Been Fired, NBC Denies Cast Shake-Up Claims

Looks like those rumors of a cast shake-up on "The Today Show" are false.

On Thursday, the NBC morning show's hosts playfully addressed the sudden speculation that the network had fired a few members of the team and demoted others. But according to the cast, they couldn't be more thankful for the support they received from fans.

"What are you doing here?" Al Roker and Tamron Hall asked fellow host Natalie Morales in unison.

"Sorry, guys, you're stuck with me!" answered Morales. "And you're stuck with Willie!" she added, pointing to a split-screen shot of host Willie Geist, who was on assignment in Brooklyn, NY.

"No, that's not what I read on the Internet!" joked Tamron Hall.

Roker then turned his teasing questioning to Hall.

"Aren't you supposed to be at MSNBC?" he asked, to which she replied, "I got demoted, bye!"

The hosts were tackling rumors that Natalie Morales and Willie Geist had been let go by NBC, as well as speculation that Hall had been demoted back to a correspondent position at MSNBC.

Us Weekly reported the rumors on Wednesday, indicating that a source had claimed Morales was in talks with ABC while Geist had already lined up a gig at CBS.

However, NBC quickly slammed the rumors, making an official statement that no such cast shake-up was in the works.

"NBC's Today has the best anchor team in morning television. The entire Today show anchor team -- Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Natalie Morales, Willie Geist, Carson Daly, Tamron Hall, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Hoda Kotb -- are incredibly talented, valued and have our support. In response to the false rumors that have been circulated about our anchor team, NBC wants to be absolutely clear: The rumors are wrong -- period. This is the team we are committed to. And this is the team that our viewers turn to in the morning," the network's rep told Us.

While addressing the gossip on Thursday's episode of "Today," the hosts thanked fans for their support despite the fictitious nature of the claims.

"Well, Natalie and I walked into work yesterday and we looked at each other and said 'What are you doing here?'" joked Geist. "I do want to say, and I know Natalie feels the same way, when this totally erroneous report came out, the support and the concern blew me away on Twitter and Facebook and phone calls and emails. So, it just reaffirmed for me how special this show is, how great our viewers are and I'm so grateful for all of that."

"It is," agreed Morales. "Willie, I mean you tweeted it out yesterday and it was overwhelming. Each and every tweet and email really touched my heart. And I know we've all dealt with a lot of stuff the last couple weeks."

Grabbing her co-hosts' hands, she added, "And I have a lot of love for everyone here and you should know this show is stronger because of the people we work with every day."

Hall also chimed in on how thankful she was that the cast seemed to laugh through the false reports together.

"What I love is how we all laughed about it when we came in, I said to Willie, 'Hey, short timer' and he said, 'Hey, demoted' and I said 'Natalie, what's your payout going to be?'" said Hall.

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Today show
The Today Show
Willie Geist
Natalie Morales
Tamron Hall
al roker
cast
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