Photo: John Lamparski / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty Images
A man slipped past security at NBC's Rockefeller Center studios Thursday morning (July 16), made his way backstage, and allegedly lunged at TODAY co-anchor Craig Melvin while shouting the N-word, according to law enforcement sources cited by TMZ — and the incident has staff demanding answers about how it happened.
The intruder reportedly entered the building from the publicly accessible plaza and made his way into a restricted area through a stairwell and into backstage areas near the dressing rooms. Per TMZ, the man was looking for Al Roker. When he couldn't locate Roker, he instead confronted Melvin in the restricted area and allegedly lunged at him while shouting the racial slur, according to the outlet's law enforcement sources.
The incident happened around 9 a.m. ET. Staff and security responded quickly and detained the man, who was unarmed. He was later arrested. Nobody was physically hurt.
Despite the chaos backstage, the breach never made it to air. Roughly 15 minutes after the incident, both Melvin and Roker appeared on camera as scheduled — neither acknowledging what had just happened.
The security failure is raising serious questions inside the building. According to TMZ, staff is demanding to know how an unauthorized person managed to move from the public plaza and penetrate that deep into the building undetected — past multiple potential checkpoints and into areas restricted to authorized personnel only.
The TODAY show is broadcast live from Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, where the outdoor plaza is open to the public and frequently draws large crowds of onlookers and fans. That accessibility, while a signature part of the show's identity, has historically created security challenges for the network.
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