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Earlier this week, whispers of mass firings at “The Tamron Hall Show” made headlines. According to the reports, Hall hired a new executive producer and with that shift, came the firing of approximately twenty employees. In addition, former employees accused the talk show host of being callous and insensitive in the wake of their termination. A representative for the daytime talk show came forward, stating that the reported lay-offs were untrue and explained that some members of the creative team simply did not have their contracts renewed at the end of the season.
To further clear the air, Hall took to Instagram with a two-minute long video to explain her side of the story.
“That story that I did not pay 20 people and fired them and left them hanging is a lie,” she said. “We didn’t fire 20 people. In fact, our season was supposed to wrap June 5, I fought to have the extension of the season to June 25. My creative team was paid through the pandemic and through the extension because I wanted to keep pushing and keep putting out stories that matter to you.”
Further, she went on to say while there were some routine changes made to the team once the season wrapped, it’s within her right to make those changes.
“Like any other show, like any other product, people make changes and we did — after the season had wrapped. Not during, not while,” she clarified. “So this notion that I ran off securing bags, it’s not true. It is absolutely not and the notion that I’ve abandoned people, it’s not.”
“But I have a right, and every person who runs a company, owns a company, has anything that is yours, you have a right to make it better,” she added.
Tamron also shared an email that she sent to her creative team a few months ago. While the email had nothing to do with the rumored firings, it did help to dispel rumors that Hall is unkind to staffers behind the scenes. She mentioned that the email stemmed from an issue with a rogue employee in April — which is around the time the team started producing the show from home — who attempted to convince other staffers to stop working amidst the pandemic. Apparently, some people took issue with the fact that they had to continue working from home even though the coronavirus was at its peak.
“The reason we wanted the show to get back on the air was not for vanity,” she wrote. “but to use the platform that we have for good.”
“Again, I understand everyone is stressed out and feeling anxious but to say the ‘confusion on the show has run more rampant than the coronavirus’ was a gut punch that I could not ignore,” she continued. “The success of this show will never erase my humanity.”
You can read her full letter below:
