Today Show Insider Exposes Brutal Behind-the-Scenes Verdict on Al Roker

Is Al Roker’s famously cheerful on-air persona really hiding a far less sunny side?

That is the picture painted by his former Today Show colleague Billy Bush, who suggested the longtime weatherman is far less warm behind the scenes than viewers might imagine.

Roker, 71, is “mean, territorial, vindictive and chronically unprepared,” Bush told Daily Mail columnist Maureen Callahan last week on her podcast, “The Nerve.”

Could Bush’s harsh assessment be little more than lingering resentment from a onetime network star looking to stir up attention?

Possibly. Bush, 54, was abruptly pushed out of the Today Show after less than a year following the release of a 2005 recording in which he and Donald Trump made crude remarks about women.

So when Bush began taking aim at the relentlessly upbeat Roker, I decided to contact a former NBC source who had worked closely with the veteran broadcaster for years.

Their response was not exactly restrained.

“Is Al Roker a d**k?” I asked by text.

Immediate response: ‘Yes.’

Sounds like a major s***t-storm is blowing in from the east, Al.

Baby-faced Billy and Roker were thrust together in 2016 like two clumsy characters in a buddy-cop sitcom to host the third hour of the morning show flagship, but Bush now says the duo was doomed from the start ‘because [Roker is] maybe the worst interviewer on television.’

Billbo Blabbins also claimed that Angry Al had an axe to grind against his much-younger colleague. ‘[Roker] likes me but fears me, didn’t want me anywhere near,’ Bush told Callahan.

He even alleged that shortly after he joined the morning show team Roker liked a tweet which described Bush as a ‘whitesplaining racist.’

‘I’m like, “Oh, my god… I’m the new guy. And this dude’s liking tweets from people that are calling me things that are career-ending and awful,”‘ Bush recalled.

I’ve also met Al Roker a few times at events in New York and Washington, DC, and I wasn’t impressed. Even after Roker lost more than 100 pounds from gastric bypass surgery in 2002, he had a chip on his shoulder.

Normally when us media types bump into each other it’s all back-slapping and jovial jabs, but Roker – as I remember – couldn’t be bothered with even basic pleasantries. I thought to myself, ‘Go stuff a croissant in your mouth, you were more fun when you were Fat Al.’

Let’s be honest, there have been other signs that his weathervane is off kilter.

‘I pooped my pants,’ Roker blurted out on-air in 2018, recounting an unfortunate visit to the White House in 2002. ‘Not horribly, but enough that I knew.’

For God’s sake man! That isn’t relatable. It’s horrifying.

My former insider wasn’t even surprised that Bush was still angry enough at Roker to torch him a decade after they worked together.

‘The fact it has taken this long for the truth to come out is shocking,’ they said. ‘This is not a good guy. In fact, he is an absolute a*****e.’

Then, came the doozy.

‘He is still friends with Matt Lauer,’ alleged the source, who stays in touch with folks at NBC.

What’s happening in your neck of the woods, Al?

America’s favorite sugar-sweet weatherman, whose sunny disposition entices millions to take on the day is allegedly pals with one of TV’s most notorious alleged sexual harassers and abusers? (Lauer has denied allegations of sexual assault and rape)

If my source knows this, everybody knows this, and Bush is doing NBC a huge favor airing this rancid laundry, because this is not just a Roker problem; this is an NBC problem.

The way Today Show anchor Hoda Kotb seemed to be circling sweet and kind Savannah Guthrie’s anchor chair, while Guthrie was desperately searching for her kidnapped mother, was a shocking thing to watch.

Kotb, who left the broadcast in January 2025, came rushing back 14 months later and seemed to lap up airtime and attention in Guthrie’s absence. And then when it was time for Guthrie to give her tearful first one-on-one sit-down, Hoda reportedly swooped to do the interview, while co-host Craig Melvin was sidelined.

‘Craig is absolutely devastated he didn’t get that interview,’ an insider told the Daily Mail in March. ‘He thought it was his moment with Savannah — and it never even came his way.

Let’s face it, they’re all pretty awful: Competitive, vindictive, miserable and selfish, in my opinion.

Normally I would ask how someone who is alleged to be as nasty as Al Roker still has gainful employment, but he’s not just getting by at NBC, he’s thriving.

Now that the genie is out of the bottle and we can see that Emperor Al has been naked all along, perhaps he turns over a new leaf.

At the very least, I hope he has an extra pair of pants.