Jenna Bush Hager and Willie Geist brutally call out ‘lazy’ Today co-host Hoda Kotb over holiday gift gaffe

Jenna Bush Hager and Willie Geist have brutally called out their ‘lazy’ Today co-host Hoda Kotb for re-gifting a present.

During Tuesday morning’s episode of Today, Bush Hager, 44, and Geist, 51, were discussing gift giving ahead of the holiday season, when Bush Hager made a bold confession about her pal Kotb, 62.

She recalled a time that she awkwardly discovered that what she initially thought was a thoughtful gift from Kotb had actually been something Kotb was gifted herself but didn’t want. 

She explained that Kotb had given her a bracelet that said ‘hope and joy’ on it.

Initially, she was enthralled by the gift, but she soon discovered that the jewelry piece had Kotb’s daughter’s name and the year she was born etched onto it.

It turns out, it was actually something Kathie Lee Gifford had given to Kotb. 

‘She gave me a regift from Kathie Lee that said Haley and the year Haley was born,’ Bush Hager shared. ‘I was like, “Hey Hoda, this isn’t for me bro.”‘

Geist then branded Kotb as ‘lazy’ for not getting Bush Hager a gift of her own or noticing that it had her daughter’s name engraved on it.

‘Let’s count the ways we love Hoda, but that’s very lazy, to not even look, and say, “Oh this was mine!”‘ he said, to which Bush Hager nodded.

Elsewhere in the episode, Bush Hager opened up about an awkward conversation that she had with her son Hal, seven, about her ex-boyfriends.

She recalled watching a rom-com with the youngster, whom she shares with her husband, Henry Hager, when he started asking her about her love life.

‘He’s like, “Mom, do you like anybody the way that girl likes him?”‘ she remembered her son saying. ‘And I was like, “Yes, your father.”‘

She explained that Hal then asked her if she ‘liked other guys before dad,’ which prompted her to tell him about her former lovers.

‘I had to go through the ol’ roster,’ she joked. ‘At some point, I was like, what am I doing?’

Bush Hager said her son wondered why it didn’t work out between her and her exes, to which she replied: ‘I don’t even know, Hal. It was 25 years ago.’

One day prior, Kotb gave an update on her own love life while appearing as a guest host on Today with Bush Hager.

Kotb, who split from her fiancé Joel Schiffman in 2022, revealed back in September that she had formed a romantic connection with a ‘very handsome’ guy after he sat next to her on an airplane.

And on Monday, she shared more about her potential new love interest, confessing that they still hadn’t gone on their first date because she’s ‘scared.’ 

The mom-of-two explained that her unnamed man had asked to meet up for coffee ‘a couple of times,’ but she’s continuously turned him down. 

She explained that her hesitation stemmed from fears that she might ruin the ‘fun’ they’re having once things turn more serious.

‘I’ll tell you why I haven’t [gone on a date with him]. One, I’m scared. Two, I like [to] flirt, [I like the stage when] you don’t know what it is, but it might be something,’ she said.

‘And sometimes once you know it isn’t something, then it’s not so fun any more. So I think I’m sort of just keeping it as a [texting] thing.’

The TV star, who shares daughters Haley, nine, and Hope, seven, with her ex Schiffman, said she still believes that love is ‘coming’ for her, and noted that she will ‘have to take risks’ if she wants to find it.

‘I’m 62 years old, I have two young kids, and I believe the love part of my life is a piece that’s coming,’ she continued.

‘I don’t go, “Oh well, that’s that.” I believe that as I am going through life that there is going to be a person who shares more than just the things that mattered to me when I was younger.

‘I want someone like a deep spiritual connection, a deep emotional connection. I think that’s coming, and I think I have to take risks to get it.’

Bush Hager urged Kotb to finally go on a date with her mystery man.

‘[She has to go] because my friend is brave and does things that scare her,’ she said. ‘I want you to go on that coffee date.’

‘Okay,’ an emotional Kotb responded. ‘I will go on the coffee date.’