Hoda Kotb celebrated her and Jenna Bush Hager‘s 2025 Daytime Emmy nomination by poking fun at some of their competition.
“We have never won one, but I think this could be our year! The last time’s the charm!” Bush Hager told Kotb on the Monday, July 14, episode of Today With Jenna & Friends. Kotb, who appeared on the show via video call, went on to joke, “This is our last hoorah. This is happening. ‘Kelly Clarkson, who?’ is what I like to say.”
Kotb quickly clarified that she was “kidding” and that she and Bush Hager “love Kelly so much.” She added, “We love her, but it’s our turn. As I said to Jenna, we’re gonna go ‘giter,’ G-I-T-E-R. We’re gonna go giter.”
Kotb and Bush Hager recently scored an Emmy nod for Outstanding Daytime Talk Series Host. Joining the duo in the category, along with Clarkson, are Drew Barrymore for The Drew Barrymore Show, Jennifer Hudson for The Jennifer Hudson Show, and Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos for Live with Kelly and Mark.
The friendly competition comes nearly two months after online speculation spread that Kotb could take over The Kelly Clarkson Show from the Grammy winner. “[Kelly is] a wonderful person. But maybe Hoda would be a better boss,” an anonymous producer told the Daily Mail in May. “I know she’s universally beloved and respected by her former coworkers. Maybe she would be good. She sure would be a lot more stable than what we’ve been going through. … If Kelly is unhappy, then she should move on. We would all understand. If Hoda wants to do it, it could be [a] win-win for everyone.”
Kotb later clarified that the rumors were false while making her first appearance on Today since leaving the NBC morning show in January. “Do you think that if I ever came back to TV, do you know where the only place I would ever come back is? Right here. This is the spot,” she stated on May 28. “There’s no place like home.”
Kotb praised Clarkson for being “in a class all by herself” while talking about the replacement rumors on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen last month. She also teased a potential TV comeback, stating, “My whole thing with talk shows and all that stuff, it’s like, I’m a ‘never say never’ person. You don’t know what life is gonna bring you.”
She added, “At this moment, I’m having so much fun with the ride that I’m on. But, you know, TV is my first love, so, as I say in life, you don’t know.”
Kotb also told Andy Cohen her top picks for who should permanently fill her ghost spot on Jenna & Friends. “To me, the contenders are Savannah [Guthrie], I think she would be great; I think Justin Sylvester‘s amazing; Scarlett Johansson crushed it,” she shared. “And Matt Rogers is great; and also, our dear friend Sheinelle Jones, who is going through a difficult time.”
Ciara kicked off her three-day gig as Bush Hager’s cohost on Monday and praised the former cohosts while discussing their Emmy nomination. “You have already won. What you guys have done for talk show TV is incredible,” the pop star gushed. “I mean, you are a legend, Hoda, and you too, and you are continuously killing it. You guys have already won. So, I’m here to tell you that, okay?”
Today With Jenna & Friends, Weekdays, 10 a.m. ET, NBC