Back in 1991, we had the pleasure of watching an extremely uncomfortable episode of NBC Today , with TV personality Katie Couric and her co-anchor, Bryant Gumble.
We may have not thought much of it back then. But now, nearly 30 years later, Katie has decided to reshare this wildly inappropriate TV conversation with her fans, and people are finally sticking up for her the way they should have 30 years ago.
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After rediscovering the clip, Katie thought it would finally be a good time to shed some light on the issue.
“I was about to go on maternity leave and let’s just say, Bryant Gumbel didn’t quite get it,” she said.
“It’s pretty shocking to watch it now, 28 years later,” she went on.
At the time of the clip, Katie was very pregnant and explaining on camera that she would be leaving the show for nine weeks.
It’s 2019, and I think by now we should all realize what a trial it is to use your body as a baby-growing vessel — women require time to heal.
It’s not as simple as just pushing out a baby and going back to work the next day.
In the clip, Katie explains that she’ll need some time to recuperate after giving birth.
Bryant responded by saying that women shouldn’t need that much time off after having a baby, and that she should be able to pop out a baby and get back to work.
“Get my vittles on the table! Get them vittles out there,” Bryant joked, as Katie tried to explain why maternity leave is essential.
Making a mockery of pregnancy and not seeming to take it seriously at all is bad enough.
But then it gets more awkward.
“It’s a major shock to your body, I hope you realize,” Katie explained.
“It takes a while to get back to normal,” she added.
“Your ancestors didn’t worry about that ‘shock’ to your body. They came right back to work,” Bryant snippily responded.
“And they died when they were like, 32 years old,” Katie fired back.
It’s called history, Bryant. Look it up.
There’s a very damn good reason why women need time off after they have a baby. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
Bryant reaches out for Katie’s neck, adjusting her pearl necklace.
It was very random, considering her necklace seemed to be already in place, to begin with.
She awkwardly thanks him, and puts her pearls back in place.
As Bryant continued to tease Katie, telling the audience that she often takes time off work, Katie begins to look a bit frustrated.
She starts “playfully” hitting Bryant in the arm — with quite a bit of force. She really let him have it.
“How many men get nine weeks off?” Bryant continued.
After that, Katie really started to look exhausted by the conversation.
“I’m just trying to figure out why it takes [nine weeks],” Bryant added.
Katie then fires back, trying to explain that if men were the ones to carry the baby, then they would also require the same amount of time — but she accidentally stumbles on her words and Bryant grabs the low-hanging fruit, making fun of her speech.
This was probably the most awkward moment of the entire interview.
It really did seem like he was unnecessarily picking on a pregnant woman at that point.
“Anyway, just be nice to me. It’s my last day,” Katie meekly replied — trying to surrender to the conversation.
It really couldn’t have been any more awkward. She was definitely at her whits end.
Katie manages to turn the tables by casually bringing up Bryant’s upcoming vacation.
He admits that he will be taking two weeks off to relax and go golfing.
“How many vacation weeks do you get a year, Bryant?” Katie said.
Bryant immediately goes into defensive-mode, realizing he’s being called out.
“I take some [weeks off],” he said, trembling in his boots. “You need some time off from time to time,” he went on.
Finish him, Katie!
“Thank you very much. I rest my case,” Katie said, adding “and you’re not even having a baby.”
I think Katie won this battle. Not that there should have been one in the first place.
