Shaming a pregnant woman is never a good look, especially not on a morning show like Today which is viewed by thousands of women — surely some of them are also pregnant. Someone should let Matt Lauer know this before his next attempt at a playful jab in the direction of his very pregnant co-host, Savannah Guthrie.
With one brief and unnecessary comment on the show this morning, Lauer was able to awkwardly diss Guthrie as well as make his guest, Natalie Portman, extremely uncomfortable.
It all began when he started the running gag about Guthrie's feet being big and swollen. The hosts were trying on a pair of Nike's new $720 self-lacing sneakers, but Guthrie's feet wouldn't fit. Lauer jokingly passed over his Men's shoe to her adding, "Here's a size 11 for ya! No shame!" But obviously there is some shame attached to the comment as he mentioned again a moment later when he described the shoes to her — as if she can't see them over her eight-month pregnant stomach.
And it didn't end there, Lauer just couldn't let it go. He decided to shame her once again, this time by comparing her pregnancy to that of Portman's. As his interview with the Jackie star was wrapping up he quickly mentioned, "And, you do have tiny feet. Can I say that? No offense to Savannah." Portman quickly turns and looks around for Guthrie and corrects him saying, "Well, that doesn't mean they're not swollen! It's not mutually exclusive." Her facial expression shows how uneasy she felt being dragged into this on-screen banter.
Pick a new gag, Lauer. Every woman's body changes during pregnancy, and that should never be a punchline.
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