Fans were left stunned today after an old clip of Hoda Kotb interviewing someone on the morning show in 2010 went viral, with one person describing her line of questioning as “insane.”
Hoda, who recently celebrated her 60th birthday with her family on August 9, was interviewing food journalist Amy Reiley about her book The Love Diet alongside then-co-host Kathie Lee Gifford when she asked a rather shocking question.
Instead of asking about the contents of Amy’s book, Hoda decided to go straight to questioning her about her book’s co-author, Juan Carlos Cruz, who, at the time, had been accused of a murder-for-hire plot against his wife, Jennifer Campbell.
Hoda refused to mince words and instead spoke up: “We want to clear one thing up before we begin. There is a co-author, Juan Carlos Cruz, who is accused of participating in a contract killing with his wife. A plea deal is going to be reached today. What’s the status? What’s going on?”
Amy seemed taken aback by Hoda’s direct question, but calmly replied, “Uh, I know there’s a hearing in a couple hours today and there’s supposedly going to be a plea deal, that’s all I know.”
Today fans are stunned after an old clip of Hoda Kotb interviewing Amy Reiley alongside Kathie Lee Gifford in 2010 resurfaced.
Author Amy seemed baffled when Hoda began the segment by asking her about her co-author, who had been accused of a murder-for-hire plot.
Amy continued: ‘Juan Carlos and I have been communicating by letter. He cannot speak to me about his case.
‘Basically, all I know is that this is a man who has a huge passion for cooking for better health and sharing it with other people, and that’s why we made The Love Diet together.’
Kathie stepped in and said, “But you’re friends and you wish her all the best?” to which Amy replied, “Yeah, and I promised myself I wouldn’t cry today, so…”
Hoda quickly moved on to the next segment, replying, “No, you’re not, we’re cooking! What are we making?” to which Amy replied, “We’re making a lasagna for black truffle lovers…”
The clip was posted on X on Sunday alongside the caption: “I could give you a thousand tries and you’d never guess the first question they ask about this book,” and has been viewed 1.3 million times.
Many people were quick to comment on Hoda’s post and nonsensical questions: one person wrote, “Not the ideal way to start that segment…”, while another said, “I feel so sorry for this woman.”
A third person said: “Wow, Hoda treated her so badly!” while a fourth X user said: “What the fuck starts a conversation like that?”
“Hoda is crazy omg!” another person commented, while another added: “It’s hilarious and then it’s awful.”
Amy responded by saying that Juan Carlos Cruz is “a very, very passionate man about cooking for better health.”
Juan Carlos was jailed for nine years in December 2010 for trying to hire two homeless men to murder his wife.
Another person joked: ‘Hoda was just there for the TEAAAA and nothing else,’ while another suggested: ‘This makes me feel like she was caught here JUST to ask about an ongoing lawsuit with her co-writer.’
Someone else said: “Holy crap this is amazing,” while another admitted it left them “speechless.”
On December 13, 2010, Juan Carlos was jailed for nine years for attempting to hire two homeless men to murder his wife.
The chef, known at the time as Calorie Commando, pleaded guilty to attempting to hire the men to strangle his attorney wife Jennifer to death.
He had offered them $500 each and provided them with details of his movements in the Los Angeles area.
The plan went awry when the would-be killers went to the police.
The men then secretly recorded Juan Carlos, who had his own show on the Food Network, offering them money to carry out the crime.
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