Savannah Guthrie returned to NBC'sTodaystudio in New York on Thursday, 5 March, her first appearance on the show since her 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, was reported kidnapped from her Tucson home in Arizona last month, a case that has prompted some netizens to claim there is 'something strange' about the circumstances.
Back in Studio 1A at Rockefeller Center, Guthrie walked into a place that functions as both workplace and public stage. Colleagues including Hoda Kotb, Dylan Dreyer, Sheinelle Jones and Jenna Bush Hager gathered around her in a small, off-air reunion that quickly made its way into broadcasts and social clips.
Guthrie, 54, thanked theTodayteam for what she described as their love and practical support since she left the show in late January. 'I wanted you to know that I'm still standing, and I still have hope, and I'm still me,' she told them. 'And I don't know what version of me that will be, but it will be.' She added that she was 'holding onto my faith,' invoking a line she attributed to her mother; 'Where else would I go?'
Savannah Guthrie returns to the Today studio to see her colleagues.pic.twitter.com/Sm20XpV8IU
Hoda Kotb, who departedTodayin January 2025 but returned temporarily to cover Guthrie's absence, was photographed embracing her former co-anchor and kissing her on the cheek. That image alone would have been enough to set off social media's grief detectives, but the prayers, tears and religious language gave them more to chew on.
Guthrie made clear she intends to return toTodayon a more permanent basis, though she did not commit to a date. 'I have every intention of coming back. I don't know how to come back, but I don't know how not to,' she said. 'You're my family. And I would like to try.'
Later, during the programme's fourth hour, Sheinelle Jones described how Guthrie had 'talked to all of us, hugged every single person in this room, the crew,' while Jenna Bush Hager said she was simply 'proud' of her friend and 'rooting' for her. It was unabashedly sentimental, in a way that American morning television usually is.
Outside the studio bubble, however, Guthrie's emotional NBC visit fed a parallel conversation. Clips of the reunion attracted praise and scepticism in equal measure, with some netizens arguing there was 'something strange' about the broadcast and about the Nancy Guthrie case itself.
'There is still something strange about this whole situation,' one social media user wrote, adding, 'My opinion, there is more to the story that we're not being told.' Another dismissed the on-air emotion as 'drama queens.' In a darker turn, one commenter alluded to what they called a 'pretend kidnapping game' Guthrie and her sister Annie allegedly played with a cousin in the past.
Savannah Guthrie's Grief And The Netizen Backlash
Source: International Business Times UK
