Craig Melvin still thinks about one error he made that almost led to the Today show being sued.
During Tuesday’s episode of Today celebrating the show’s first-ever Fan Fest, Melvin was answering viewer questions alongside co-host Savannah Guthrie and guests Carson Daly and Andy Cohen when he reflected on an on-air mistake that still haunts him.
“It's one that almost got us sued,” he said. “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.”
“That’s bad,” Cohen chimed in.
Melvin worked for both NBC and MSNBC before joining Today in 2018. In November 2024, he was announced as Hoda Kotb’s replacement, assuming her co-anchor position following her departure in January.
“I am beyond excited and grateful,” Melvin said, following his promotion at the time. “I've had a lot of conversations yesterday with a lot of people who mean a lot to me. I want to thank NBC and the folks who deemed me worthy, but I've got to start by thanking the man upstairs, the Lord above, and his son, Jesus. I've enjoyed just a lifetime of blessings, and this is the latest in a long line of blessings.”
“You were made for this job. … You have all the things that this job needs. You’re the right person for it,” Kotb told her successor at the time.
Following the announcement of Melvin’s promotion, he spoke to NBC about other moments within his career that stood out to him.
“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 said.
“That's always one that's stayed with me.”
However, not all of his memories were positive, as he remembered covering a shooting at a church in his home state of South Carolina.
“Conversely, in terms of impact, several years ago, I covered the church shooting in Charleston,” Melvin said. “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.”
