'Today' show accused of 'erasing history' in Matt Lauer-less anniversary montage

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The "Today" show celebrated 25 years in Studio 1A at Rockefeller Plaza on Thursday morning, and viewers couldn't help but notice that Matt Lauer was nowhere to be seen in the 5-minute segment -- despite his two decades on the NBC morning show.

The spirited montage featured Al Roker, Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt, Jenna Bush Hager, Carson Daly, Craig Melvin, Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel, but Lauer was completely left out of the clip, which you can watch at the top of the page.

SEE ALSO: Matt Lauer makes rare outing for Jeff Zucker's birthday party

Lauer famously replaced Gumbel in 1997 and continued on as co-anchor of the popular morning program for two decades, until he was ousted amid allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace in November 2017. Clearly, editors wanted to avoid controversy by including Lauer in the package, but that didn't stop the anniversary clip from drumming up a divisive reaction online due to his absence.

"Erasing history guys? There was a 'Matt Lauer' there for a couple of years," one person responded on Twitter.

"Amazing that a member of 'the family' was totally excluded from the 25th Anniversary of Studio 1-A," another user tweeted. "I know there were serious issues with Matt Lauer and his conduct is not to ever be condoned, but all 'families' are flawed in some way. Aren’t they? History shouldn’t be erased."

"Wow. @TODAYshow is celebrating 25 years @ Studio 1A & decided not to include 1 clip of Matt Lauer. He was a huge contributor to the show for as long as I watched; not Carson, not Savannah," someone else said. "Yes, what Matt did was wrong but him, Katie & Al helped build Today!! *turns channel*"

While some people were clearly up in arms about Lauer being excluded because of his alleged wrongdoings, their ire prompted another sort of reaction, with other "Today" fans pointing out the irony that people who are angry about this exclusion from the montage instead of his alleged sexual misconduct.

"People are more angry that Matt Lauer was not in a Today Show tribute than they are about Matt Lauer sexually assaulting women," one woman said. "And you wonder why women are angry."

SEE ALSO: Kathie Lee Gifford thinks Matt Lauer deserves a second chance

"I’m not wondering why Matt Lauer wasn’t in some montage. I’m wondering why he’s not in jail," someone else wrote, while another viewer posited, "Imagine if some people were as outraged about Matt Lauer being a sexual predator as they are about him being excluded from a stupid f--king montage."

Others were simply impressed with the editing prowess it must've taken to get them to forget about Lauer's presence on the show at all.

"I have to say, the Today Show editing of their 25 years of ...something is a master class in the removal of Matt Lauer. I actually forgot he was part of the show," one viewer tweeted, while another person wrote, "Shout out to the @TODAYshow editors for putting together an impressive piece celebrating 25 Years of Studio 1A without any footage Matt Lauer. You all are the real MVPs."

It's also worth noting that Ann Curry, who was also a longtime co-host of "Today," was left out of the montage, too. Last year, Curry, whose exit from the morning show was not without its fair share of controversy either, said that she was "not surprised" by the allegations against Lauer.

"I am not surprised by the allegations," Curry said. "Now I'm walking down that road, and I'm trying not to hurt people. I know what it's like to be publicly humiliated. I never did anything wrong to be publicly humiliated and I don't want to cause that kind of pain to somebody else."