Today’s stunning news that Dick Ebersol, head of NBC Sports & Olympics, is leaving NBC, and falling on the same day Katie Couric is (effectively) leaving CBS, got us thinking about a moment 8 years ago, when Couric was co-anchor of the “Today” show.
Carly Simon was auctioning off the secret identity of the person who inspired her 1973 hit “You’re So Vain.” The auction’s winner was revealed on the “Today” show on the morning of August 5, 2003. Only a few people knew who the winner was. And when the NBC camera pulled out to reveal it was Ebersol, Couric gasped, “Oh my God! Dick Ebersol, you’re nuts! Maybe the song is about him, that’s why he bid on it.”
Ebersol paid $50,000 to have Simon reveal the secret to him. He was allowed to tell one other person. Then they both signed a document stating they’d never reveal the name.
Ebersol, who’s been with NBC on and off since 1974, leaves the peacock five years after Couric’s May 2006 departure.