NEW YORK (AP) — Chuck Todd said Sunday that he was leaving “Meet the Press” after a turbulent nearly decade Hosting the NBC panel discussionwho will be replaced by Kristen Welker in the coming months.
Todd, 51, told viewers, “I’ve seen too many friends and family get consumed with work before it was too late,” and that he had promised his family he wouldn’t do it.
Todd has often been an online punching bag for critics, including Donald Trump, during a polarized period, and there were rumors his time with the show would be short when the executive producer was reassigned late last summer, but NBC didn’t give a damn Indicating that this was different than Todd’s decision. It’s unclear when Todd’s last show will be, but he told viewers this would be his last summer.
“I’m concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards we’ve set here,” Todd said. “We did not tolerate propagandistsand this network and program never will.”
Welker, a former White House chief correspondent, has been with NBC News in Washington since 2011 and has been Todd’s main deputy for the past three years. She got praise for it Moderation of the final presidential debate between Trump, a Republican, and Joe Biden, a Democrat, in 2020.
Her “sharp interrogation of lawmakers is a master class in political interviewing,” NBC News editor-in-chief Rebecca Blumenstein said in a memo announcing Welker’s promotion on Sunday.
Now, 46-year-old Welker is being embroiled in yet another controversial presidential election cycle.
The Sunday morning political interview show has aired since 1947, helmed by inventor and first presenter Martha Rountree. It peaked during the years that Tim Russert hosted, from 1991 until his death in 2008, and its footing has been less certain since then. Tom Brokaw briefly filled in after Russert’s death and David Gregory replaced him until he was ousted in favor of Todd.
Welker will be the first black “Meet the Press” host and the first woman since Rountree left in 1953.
Todd said he’s proud to be expanding the “Meet the Press” brand into a daily show that first aired on MSNBC but then transitioned to streaming, along with podcasts and newsletters, and even a film festival.
“He transformed the brand into an important modern franchise, expanded its presence into a range of new media and kept ‘Meet the Press’ at the forefront of political discourse,” said Blumenstein.
However, that didn’t stop critics from taking to social media if they didn’t like an interview Todd was conducting. Trump even gave Todd one of his signature nicknames, “Sleepy Eyes,” and urged NBC to fire Todd in 2020 for airing an interview clip with his then-Attorney General William Barr, which the show later admitted cut been made to give an inaccurate impression.
Todd was roasted at the White House Correspondents Association dinner in 2022 by Trevor Noah, who pointed him out in the audience and said, “How are you?” I’d ask for a follow-up, but I know you don’t know what that is is.”
Todd alluded to his critics when announcing his exit on Sunday.
“If you’re doing this job in search of popularity, you’re doing this job wrong,” he said. “I take the partisan attacks as compliments. And honest compliments, when they come from partisans, I take with a grain of salt.”
The goal of any show, he said, is to “make you angry, make you think, at some point shake your head in disapproval and nod in approval to others.”
In its just-concluded television season, Meet the Press ranked third in viewership behind CBS’ Face the Nation and ABC’s This Week, each averaging 2.5 to 2.9 million viewers like that Rating company Nielsen announced.