‘Today’ Fans Are Calling Out Savannah Guthrie’s Connection To Johnny Depp’s Attorney After She Was Hired A Legal Expert For ‘NBC News’
January 14, 2023 by Georgia Dodd
Savannah Guthrie, 51, and NBC News are facing criticism for hiring Johnny Depp’s controversial attorney Camille Vasquez, 38, as a legal analyst months after the Today co-anchor revealed that her husband Michael Feldman, 54, consulted in the actor’s defamation trial.
Vasquez accepted her new role with NBC after her efforts in court helped secure a $15 million win for Depp, 59. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star sued his ex-wife Amber Heard, 36, for defamation after she wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post where she reference the sexual abuse and domestic abuse she suffered in her marriage with Depp. After Depp won his defamation trial, Vasquez was promoted to partner at the law firm, Brown Rudnick. Later, Heard countersued and was awarded $2 million by the jury, which determined that Depp’s former attorney, Adam Waldman, had made defamatory comments about her.
Insiders told The Hollywood Reporter that NBC saw Vasquez as a high-value, popular asset because “at least three national news divisions had inquired about her reception to an analyst or contributor role.”
The NBC News co-anchor came under fire for failing to disclose the relationship between her husband and Depp’s legal team when she covered the trial–including an interview Guthrie had with Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft. Guthrie’s husband, Michael Feldman, consulted for Vasquez and other members of Depp’s legal team. Bredehoft said she felt Depp’s legal team attempted to “demonize” her client.
Guthrie later disclosed the relationship with a casual mention during an interview with Vasquez and Benjamin Chew, who also worked on Depp’s legal team, “A quick disclosure, my husband has done consulting work for the Depp legal team, but not in connection with this interview,” she said before NBC aired the interview. Guthrie also interviewed Heard for NBC and was criticized for how tough she was. According to an article published by The Independent, Today co-host Guthrie interviewed Heard “about being ‘caught in a lie’ over her pledge to donate her $7 million divorce settlement to charity.”