Celebrity News

‘Today’ team rallies around Matt Lauer

Matt Lauer’s past and present colleagues are stepping to his defense as he battles negative reports and wobbly ratings. Former “Today” show co-anchor Katie Couric recalls a prank, telling Page Six Magazine — out this Thursday — about a trip to Florida where Lauer had hotel staff hide his photo all over her room. “He had someone put one under my pillow with things like, ‘Hi, look who you’re sleeping with tonight’ written on it,” she tells the mag. “He had someone put one on the minibar that said, ‘Get out of here.’ The piece de resistance was when I lifted up the toilet seat and there he was. They had taped a photo of him under the toilet, and it said, ‘Yep, here I am, too.’ ” Al Roker is also brushing aside reports of Lauer’s diva behavior, saying they are “just a crock,” and recalling, “One day we were traveling, and I was sitting across from [Matt], and I look over and he’s looking at his laptop, and he’s crying. I’m like, ‘What the heck?’ He’s watching ‘The Notebook,’ and the tears are just flowing.”