Tamron Hall is known to many as a bubbly journalist who can toe the line between fluffy, heartwarming stories and hard news. But her talk show studio audience was in for a surprise when they learned just how hard she used to be growing up. Or at least that was purportedly the case before she cleared things up.
The host of “Tamron Hall” issued a statement to refute a story that emerged from the Daily Mail Thursday that claimed her producers were “left scrambling to edit” the show and remove the supposed admission about Hall’s involvement in selling drugs. The former “Today” show anchor allegedly confessed she used to “facilitate” selling cocaine with her college boyfriend as a teenager.
The British tabloid cited sources for the admission but offered no direct quotes from Hall, whose so-called confession allegedly came during a taping of her segment Tuesday. When Hall made the supposed revelation, the audience and studio executives were said to have been stunned.
Not much other information was detailed about the segment except for that it included onetime “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe.
But according to a statement released by Hall Thursday, the U.K. publication got it wrong.
“I never dealt drugs,” read the journalist’s statement that was issued to various media outlets. “I am now nearly 50 years old and was reflecting on a bad judgement call that could have turned worse. I say but for the grace of God, there go I. It was part of an open and honest conversation about women, incarceration and mistakes made. For legal reasons a portion of that segment was edited from the show. I hope my show can be a forum for sharing stories without shame or judgement, including a conversation we’re having Friday on opioid addiction.”
Following her clarification, folks online sounded off about what they believed was true or false in the matter.
“Oh please, what nonsense. Anyone that has done drugs that isnt a tool has ‘facilitated selling’ to friends. @tamronhall didnt do a damn thing to apologize for.”
“In other words she hooked somebody up with the dealer. She didn’t actually make the deal. Don’t y’all know anything? 🤦🏼♀️”
While Hall has kept on the straight and narrow on the career front, things haven’t always been smooth sailing for the star. She famously departed “Today” in 2017 amid speculation she was fired in favor of Megyn Kelly. But as she promoted her new talk show this year, she came clean about her feelings on her exit.
“We’ve all been the kid who didn’t get picked to be on the kickball team,” she said at ABC’s Television Critics Association summer tour in August of the network replacing the Hall and Al Roker co-hosted “Today’s Take” with “Megyn Kelly Today.”
