Meredith Vieira visited ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ on Friday night (February 20), where the ‘Today’ show co-host talked about her decision to pass on the chance to interview Paris Hilton as news networks jockeyed to get the first sit-down with the heiress following her jail sentence. Asked why, Meredith told Jay: “Because I just thought it was stupid, personally. I just thought it was stupid. And so anyway, but then I was assigned. And everybody’s fighting for – all of the networks want to hear what Paris has to say. And I have nothing against Paris Hilton at all.”
Vieira continued, “Anyway, so what happened was everybody was fighting for it, and it looked like we’re going to get it. And to his credit, Steve Capus, who’s the president of NBC News, calls me. And I’m at, like a Bed, Bath & Beyond, shopping or something. And I pick up the phone, and he says – I’m supposed to go the next day. And he says, ‘What do you really think of this?’ And I said, ‘I just don’t think it looks good for us. We’re above this.’ And he said, ‘I agree, I do.’ And that took a lot of courage for him to say that.”