Craig Melvin confesses to on-air blunder that almost sparked legal trouble

Craig Melvin may seem like the pinnacle of professionalism while hosting the Today show, but the TV personality has experienced several slip-ups over the years, including an on-air moment that almost led to legal trouble. The Today team, including Savannah Guthrie, Carson Daly and guest Andy Cohen, answered viewers’ questions on Tuesday’s show for the “Ask Me Anything” segment of their Fan Fest. A question came up about their most embarrassing on-air bloopers, which prompted Craig to confess his worst blunder.

“It’s one that almost got us sued,” he recalled. “But there was a food recall years ago, when I was doing weekends. I read that the particular brand’s food had killed, like, eight people, and the brand had not killed eight people. They had made eight people sick.” Andy was shocked at the story and chimed in, “That’s bad.”

Carson, who joined the Today show in 2013 as a social media correspondent, reminisced about his most embarrassing on-air moment, which involved a tongue twister. “One of my snafus reading a story [was] when I was new here too,” he said. “I wasn’t used to the teleprompter and said – the story [was] about Leonardo [DiCaprio] – and I said Leonardo DiCrapio.”

“To this day, when I see Leonardo’s name in the prompter, my heartbeat starts to [pound],” he hilariously added. As for Savannah, her most cringeworthy moment came during an interview with Khloé Kardashian, in which she came right out and asked her about the rumor that she was O.J. Simpson’s child, and not Robert Kardashian’s.

“I was so embarrassed because I felt all this pressure, and I had just started, and I felt like the producers wanted me to ask this dishy question, and I didn’t want to, so I let the time be running out until we were up against a hard break,” the anchor shared. “So at the very end, I was like, ‘And Khloé, what about these rumors?'”

Savannah added that Khloé was the epitome of a “class act” and simply responded, “Nothing to it.” During the segment, Craig, who replaced Hoda Kotb as Today‘s co-host in January, also shared two of the most memorable moments from his storied career. 

“Growing up as a kid in the ’90s, Michael Jordan was my idol, and several years ago, I had the chance to interview him, and it was just as magical as I dreamed it would be to just sit across from someone that you have admired on and off the court for most of your life,” he recounted. “That’s always one that’s stayed with me.”

© Getty Images

His second memory was far more tragic and involved the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, which claimed the lives of nine people. “I’m from South Carolina, and had been in that church before, many times. So to be there, back in my home state, to cover something that was just so unthinkable, reprehensible, that’s always stayed with me, just talking to people in the days and hours after that tragedy,” Craig said.

© Getty Images

Craig has been with Today for several years, starting out as a news anchor in 2018 and graduating to become a co-host of the show’s third hour before nabbing the anchor role in January.