In the days since Ann Curry departed as co-host of the Today show after a year in that position I have become more and more disgusted at her treatment in the press by the people who run NBC.

Steve Capus the head of NBC News spoke with the Hollywood Reporter and said that “we gave her a year to prove herself, and ultimately we came to the conclusion that she had played at the highest level she could.”

I can’t tell you how disgusting that quote is. She filled in as the host many, many times. She read the news for 14 years. She’s been reporting amazing stories from all over the world, but as he said she had played at the higest level she could.

This dude is a douche.

To me it looks a lot harder reporting from famines and war zones across the world than sitting in the studio doing cooking segments. But that’s the job and she decided to take it so that part is her fault.

Also part of the job is to look really perky and happy, which it seems that Ann Curry couldn’t fake according to Capus.

“I think it was not where her real passion was,” he said. “In her heart of hearts, I think she would admit that. I think her real passion is built around reporting on international stories. It’s tough to convey a sincere interest in something if you don’t possess it. We live in a HD world. Dan Rather used to say the camera never blinks. Well, this is an HD world now, and the camera picks up everything. And you could tell with her, you can tell with any anchor, whether they’re into it or not. And I think we’ve now come up with a role that will play to her strengths.”

So he basically said she looked like she wasn’t interested in her job, and that she did a bad job, and so he fired her.

Fucking douche.

Both Katie Couric and Deborah Norville weighed in on how painful the goodbye looked (which is below)

Couric: “It really broke my heart this morning to see Ann, because I know she’s suffering and is feeling a lot of pain with this transition, and I know that it’s really hard for everyone on the show.”

Norville: As a woman, I felt badly for Ann, who seemed so sad at how the “dream job” ended up such a disappointment. She appeared truly wounded and genuinely hurt as she stared dolefully at her lap as her soon-to-be-former colleagues mentioned their “favorite Ann moments.”

NBC is bringing in chief legal correspondent and former White House reporter Savannah Guthrie to take over for Ann. Here is a woman who reported hard news story in the White House who is now going to be doing the cooking and clothing segments. It’s a huge loss for the hard news beat cause she’s really smart, but the Today Show is one of the biggest jobs in TV and so who can blame her for doing it.

The problem for me is that it seems that Capus hired her because she’s upbeat and bubbly and cute. Here’s how he described her:

Someone around here likened her to Mary Tyler Moore, which I thought was kind of funny,” he continued. “She’s completely endearing. She’s an ultimate team player.

Ann Curry will be feeling the pain for a while. At least she will get to do what she loves which is to go to places and cover stories that are vitally important which she began during her tenure on Today. They encouraged her to spread her wings and she did and has become a first class reporter. But she’ll be ok. She’s a strong woman

NBC on the other hand has a lot of pieces to pick up due to the fact that they handled this so poorly.

NBC News Chief on Ann Curry’s ‘Today’ Departure: ‘It Was Not Where Her Real Passion Was’ (Exclusive) (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC News’ president Steve Capus practically kicked Ann Curry out the door (Daily News)