About halfway through the hour, NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt joined Kotb, Guthrie and Roker for what he said was his first appearance on the special.
He also joined them on stage at the end of the hour for the tree lighting.
NBC didn’t allow the abrupt firing of Today anchor Matt Lauer to dampen its holiday spirit: Lauer’s name was not mentioned at all during the network’s annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center tree-lighting special Wednesday, despite the fact that Lauer was originally scheduled to co-host the event.
Later on Wednesday, NBC confirmed that Lauer would not be part of the tree lighting; this was before reports of Lauer’s alleged sexual harassment of NBC staffers, including him exposing his genitals, surfaced later in the day.