‘Cut It’: Craig Melvin Goes MIA from ‘Today Show’ After Segment Goes Left and He Blurts Out Jenna Bush Hager’s Big Secret On Air
Live television morning talk shows feature hosts who know how to stay close to a script, but sometimes the most fun happens when someone is on the completely wrong page.
Just ask “Today” show co-host Craig Melvin, who found himself spicing up the NBC show’s telecast with a casual slip of the tongue. But one of his co-hosts was not happy about it, and now his absence from the show looks a little suspicious.
During the show’s April 8 broadcast, Melvin was sitting at the set’s roundtable in between Al Roker, Savannah Gunthrie, and Carson Daly as they discussed the highly anticipated sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada,” which is set to be released on May 1.
Suddenly, Melvin spilled his co-host Jenna Bush Hager’s news that she is set to make her on-screen debut in the film.
“By the way, you know how that movie’s going to be good? You know how I can tell? JBH is in it,” he said.
Bush Hager, who was standing across the room by a screen, literally dropped her jaw and quickly said, “I don’t know that you were supposed to drop that bomb.”
Gunthrie said, “That’s why you cannot tell Craig anything.”
Melvin, who seemingly was unaware that he had misstepped, said, “Wait a minute, I thought it was common knowledge.”
Guthrie jumped in, saying, “No,” forcing Roker to add, “It is now.”
“Cut it out for the other feeds,” Melvin said, before quickly apologizing to Bush Hager.
“Sorry about that JBH,” he said.
Bush Hager, who held her mouth open during the exchange, tried to switch the subject by saying, “You guys, if you’re looking forward to the Masters —” but was cut off by Guthrie, who told Melvin, “Why don’t you read my journal while you’re at it.”
Melvin, who realized he had messed up, wore a bashful smile as the clip ended.
Not many people seemed to be bothered by the news. One person commenting on Facebook wrote, “Why keep it a secret anyway?”
Some folks suspected that Melvin’s drop was a ploy to get people to watch the movie.
“Jenna is a bore. A cameo in the new Devil Wears Prada movie is hardly newsworthy. I bet she put Craig up to ‘spilling’ the tea. No one is interested,” a second person wrote on X.
One person who did think the move was shady wrote, “Accidentally on Purpose. What a Weasel.” Someone else who agreed responded, “Because he’s envious.”
Bush-Hager seemed bothered in the moment about Melvin revealing her big secret about her tiny career pivot. It’s unclear whether this news leaked on purpose as a strategic move, but there’s already been a lot of buzz around the film.
“The Devil Wears Prada,” released in 2006, was a cult classic film based on the eponymous novel that was published in 2003. It tells the true story of a young woman and her life as an assistant to the then-editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour. In the movie, Wintour is reimagined as Miranda Priestly, a cold and demanding boss that many employees are scared to cross, played by returning character Meryl Streep.
For the second film, Anne Hathaway will reprise her role as the assistant Andrea Sachs. Despite the film depicting her in a not-so-great light, Wintour doesn’t appear to be too bothered about the film, as she has been doing promos alongside Streep for weeks.
In fact, Wintour’s first time ever being on the Vogue cover was this week, where she posed alongside Streep.
“Devil Wears Prada 2” is projected to make $80 million to $95 million during its opening weekend, according to BoxOffice Pro. That would be as much as a $68 million jump from the first film’s opening weekend numbers.
For those suspecting that Melvin’s absence has anything to do with his blurting out Jenna’s big secret, it turns out he’s on a planned vacation and will be back on “Today” next week.