Lester Holt has had to unexpectedly pull out of NBC News’ Pearl Harbor Day coverage in Hawaii because of a family illness.
“As you may have seen, I had planned to anchor Nightly News from Hawaii today for the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack,” the anchor wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. “While we will still share the stories of survivors attending the event and feature my interview with Tom Brokaw about ‘The Greatest Generation,’ an illness in the family prevents me from being there.”
Tamron Hall filled in for Holt, 57, on Tuesday night while he traveled to Hawaii, a source told Page Six, and will cover for him again Wednesday from the network’s Manhattan headquarters.
Whether or not Holt is in Hawaii, the source said that the network is still dedicating a lot of resources to its Pearl Harbor coverage. As the newsman made clear in his message, a pre-shot interview between him and Brokaw about “The Greatest Generation” will still air. The conversation was filmed at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum last week.
While Holt will no longer be in Hawaii to mark the occasion, he expressed his appreciation for the men and women who served during the monumental day.
“On this solemn anniversary, my thoughts are also with the brave Americans who served and sacrificed on that fateful December 7th morning,” he wrote.