Katie Couric CBS NBC banned book memoir Going There
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Page Six dropped the bomb that Katie Couric got some bad news earlier this week when she was “banned” from promoting her controversial memoir on CBS, where she spent years hosting “CBS Evening News.” Of course, being a media darling, Couric was quickly bailed out with a coveted appearance on her longtime network NBC.

CBS “Bans” Katie Couric 

Couric had been booked to promote her memoir on “CBS This Morning” in an interview with Gayle King until network executives actually read it.

They were reportedly horrified to find that Couric was critical of the network and its news division in the memoir. So horrified that they reportedly pulled the plug on her “CBS This Morning” appearance.

What had CBS executives’ feathers so ruffled? Couric claims in her bombshell book “Going There” that when ratings on “CBS Evening News” started to plummet, then-CBS boss Les Moonves tried to shuffle her to the morning show.

She goes on to write that Moonves told her, “‘We’ve been thinking about you and what you’re good at. The evening news really doesn’t give you a place to showcase your talent.’ Oh, boy, here it comes … ‘Would you be interested in going to the morning show?’ he said. ‘You’re so great at it, and they could really use your help.’”

Related: Piers Morgan On Why There’s A Special Place In “Hell” Reserved For Katie Couric

Couric Shuts Moonves Down

“Absolutely not,” Couric claimed that she replied. “I didn’t leave the morning show I helped make number one so I could go to the third-place morning show.”

“I had come here to accomplish something, and if it didn’t work, it didn’t work,” she added. “I’d rather leave the network than retreat to the morning show, which at the time was a cheap imitation of the other two.”

Ten years ago, CBS announced a new-look for “CBS This Morning” with hosts King, Erica Hill and Charlie Rose. It is still hosted by King alongside Nate Burleson and Tony Dokoupil.

Couric went on to say of Moonves, who was fired in 2018 amidst a sexual misconduct scandal, “I always liked Les Moonves, even though he was a close-talker with bad breath.”

Katie Couric Recalls Her Arrival At CBS

When talking about her arrival at CBS, Couric recalled, “At an affiliates’ meeting, Les would smugly disclose how he finally got me to say yes: ‘We drank many bottles of expensive wine on the sofa in my apartment … Don’t worry, my wife was in the next room.’ Hardee-har, Les.”

Couric has landed in hot water over this memoir because of the negative way she wrote about her female colleagues.

Given the negative publicity that has surrounded her book, being “banned” from promoting it on CBS seemed like the last thing that Katie Couric needed. Or was it?

NBC Offers Katie Couric A Platform To Plug Controversial Memoir

The once daytime darling’s blacklist status didn’t last long as NBC soon swooped in to give her a platform to promote her book. Currently, Katie Couric is slated to appear on the ‘Today’ show Tuesday, October 19.

‘Today’, of course, is the popular morning show she co-anchored for a whopping 15 years with the since disgraced Matt Lauer.

The very same Matt Lauer that Katie Couric recently took flack for defending as a “decent” man.

A Fox News inside source said, “With all the fuss surrounding the book, it will be interesting to hear from Katie herself on TV.”

Katie Couric’s polarizing memoir, “Going There”, is set to be released on October 26.

The book certainly has drawn a ton of press already. Will all of the negative press end up being good press for book sales?

The world will have to wait and see whether “Going There” lands on the bestseller list or not.

Read Next: Katie Couric Reveals Her Bitter War With Diane Sawyer – ‘I Love Getting Under Her Skin’

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