Katie Couric Banned From Promoting Memoir On CBS After Slamming Network, Former Boss: Report

CBS has barred its former anchor Katie Couric from appearing on the network to promote her new book after she allegedly slammed the network and its former boss Les Moonves in her memoir, a report says.

The former "Today" anchor — who also hosted "CBS Evening News" from 2006 to 2011 — had been set to promote her memoir, "Going There," on "CBS This Morning" with Gayle King, Page Six reported.

However, Couric was banned by the network after CBS News chiefs and producers read the book, the outlet alleged. She wrote discourteously about CBS and its news division in the tell-all, according to the report.

In the book, Couric detailed how then-CBS chief Moonves tried to move her into the network's morning show amid her poor ratings in "CBS Evening News."

Couric recalled her interactions with Moonves, writing, "'We've been thinking about you and what you're good at. The evening news really doesn't give you a place to showcase your talent.' Oh, boy, here it comes … 'Would you be interested in going to the morning show?' he said. 'You're so great at it, and they could really use your help.'"

However, Couric didn't agree with Moonves' suggestion and claimed to have replied, "Absolutely not … I didn’t leave the morning show I helped make number one so I could go to the third-place morning show."

"I had come here to accomplish something, and if it didn’t work, it didn’t work. I’d rather leave the network than retreat to the morning show, which at the time was a cheap imitation of the other two," she added.

Couric went on to write that she "always liked" Moonves — who was fired in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations in 2018 — despite the former CBS chief allegedly being "a close-talker with bad breath."

She also shared details of her arrival at CBS in her memoir. "At an affiliates’ meeting, Les would smugly disclose how he finally got me to say yes: ‘We drank many bottles of expensive wine on the sofa in my apartment … Don’t worry, my wife was in the next room.’ Hardee-har, Les," Couric wrote.

Couric's and CBS' reps couldn't be reached for comment, according to the outlet

An unnamed "TV insider" told Page Six that Couric had also been in talks to appear on CBS Sunday morning, before her appearance was abandoned. "The segment was never [officially] booked, it was only in discussion," the source said.

Meanwhile, Piers Morgan slammed Couric over her book, in which she rips former female colleagues and rivals, including former "Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer, according to previous excerpts. In an article for the Daily Mail, the British journalist accused Couric of "hypocrisy" for trashing women following her "lectures about female equality and bullying."