Savannah Guthrie caught guest Richard Gere making an “obscene gesture” in a moment that aired during the Today show.
Many fans know Gere from his many movie roles, including An Officer and a Gentleman, Primal Fear, and his Golden Globe-winning performance in the movie adaptation of the musical Chicago.
He’s also well-known for the classic romantic comedy Pretty Woman, which saw actress Julia Roberts rise to fame.
During his Today interview, he promoted his first-ever TV series, The Agency, which features an ensemble cast and premieres this month.
That was part of Gere’s discussion with Guthrie on NBC’s morning program, and a surprising early moment during the interview got Guthrie’s attention.
The actor appeared to have raised his middle finger toward the Today anchor, causing her and viewers to react to the televised moment.
Guthrie called out Gere for ‘obscene gesture’ during their Today interview
Before Guthrie started her interview with Gere, the show presented a brief clip from his upcoming Showtime series, The Agency, where he plays the CIA’s London station chief.
The clip showed Gere’s character, Bosko, on a stressful video call with another man about a “local problem” in Belarus.
“We both know there’s no such thing as a local problem in Belarus,” the man on the screen for his video call tells Gere’s character.
Jeffrey Wright, who plays Henry in the show, is seated beside the video call screen and writes on a yellow legal pad to show the words to Gere’s character, “He’s Right.”
Gere’s character, Jim, lets out a sigh as the clip abruptly ends. Today returned with a studio shot of Guthrie sitting across from Gere for their interview.
As the camera returned, Gere raised his middle finger toward Guthrie’s face.
“That’s what I did. Oh, sorry,” he said to the Today host, adding, “That’s what I did in the piece.”
“You just made an obscene gesture on this family morning show,” Guthrie said, smirking and playful scolding the award-winning actor. She told him she was “bleeping” him out for that part.
As seen in the shot below, the moment got censored, with Gere’s finger blurred out in social media clips.
During the early exchange, Gere maintained that he was demonstrating the rest of his characters’ scenes from The Agency.
“No, no, no, no. That’s what the clip was,” Gere told Guthrie, who mentioned that the producers “cut that part out.”
“I could see that, but it didn’t make any sense without that [part],” he told her about his character raising the middle finger.
Guthrie mentioned that she didn’t “know what’s happening” at Today after singer Cher “dropped an F-bomb” during her appearance the previous day.
It’s unclear if Gere knew the cameras were on him when he raised a middle finger or wanted to display that during the televised show for a reaction. Guthrie and Gere seemed to play things up during the early moments before continuing the rest of the interview.
Viewers reacted to Gere’s gesture and Guthrie’s ‘recovery’ during Today
On Today’s YouTube video of Guthrie’s interview with Gere, commenters shared their feedback about what happened.
“Why would he do that, I don’t get it,” one commenter wrote.
Another blamed Guthrie for cutting out the part of the clip that showed Gere’s character flipping someone off.
“He was not at fault NOR did he flip anyone the BIRD, this is on her ! She flubbed up,” a commenter wrote.
“He’s just awesome and she handled his gaffe so well,” a commenter said, with another commenting, “Nice recovery, Savannah.”
“It’s funny how you can say fowl words or phrases on tv, but you can’t flip the bird,” an individual said in the comments.
In another IG clip shared by Guthrie and the Today show, they reveal that the relationship between the host and the actor was still good after the interview.
In the quick clip, Guthrie and Gere smiled as they hugged.
“In case we forget to tell you later, we had a really good time this morning!” the caption said.
Guthrie appears most weekdays as one of the main anchors for NBC’s Today. In early 2025, her longtime co-anchor, Hoda Kotb, will step down, and co-star Craig Melvin will become the new co-anchor with Guthrie.
Gere’s first-ever TV series, The Agency, will premiere on Paramount+ with Showtime on Friday, November 29.