Latest news with #BoatBaby
USA Today
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Steve Kornacki leaving MSNBC to join NBC News and NBC Sports full time
Steve Kornacki leaving MSNBC to join NBC News and NBC Sports full time Show Caption Hide Caption How NBC's Steve Kornacki prepares for a national election USA TODAY's Shafiq Saman spoke with Steve Kornacki, NBC News and MSNBC political correspondent, about why he finds election coverage "riveting." Steve Kornacki is jumping on board full time at NBC News and NBC Sports, leaving his longtime home at MSNBC. A rep for NBC News confirmed Tuesday that TV's "big board" guy will join NBC Sports as chief data analyst, covering the network's marquee events such as NFL football, the Olympics, and the Kentucky Derby. He is also set to continue as a regular contributor on "Meet the Press," "NBC Nightly News," "Today" and the NBC News Now streaming channel. The move comes as MSNBC, along with most of parent company Comcast's other cable networks, is spun off into a separate, still-unnamed company. God-like days' are over for big name anchors: Norah O'Donnell signs off, Hoda Kotb's out Kornacki currently pulls double duty at both MSNBC, which he joined in 2012, and NBC News, where he was hired as a national political correspondent in 2017. Kornacki's profile rose during the 2020 presidential election, with his data-driven analysis and whiteboard squiggles becoming a favorite among viewers, as networks waited days to declare a projected winner in the race between former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump. Will the 'khakis' be making a comeback this Election Day? Steve Kornacki says 'we'll see' Steve Kornacki recently opened up to USA TODAY about election night, 'Kornacki khakis' Kornacki recently opened up to USA TODAY about the buzz surrounding his "Kornacki khakis." Kornacki, 45, told USA TODAY "he truly did not get" the frenzy over his choice of outfit during the last election cycle. The NBC and MSNBC national political correspondent had gone viral on social media for his near 'round the clock election analysis and signature Gap khaki pants during the 2020 presidential election. "I was amused by the interest," Kornacki said. "I never really understood it. It's not like I had (a) lifelong attachment to these pants. They were just what I happened to be wearing that day." NBC's Vicky Nguyen pens 'love letter to America,' immigrants in memoir 'Boat Baby' Like CNN's John King and Fox News' Bill Hemmer, Kornacki told USA TODAY that it's the adrenaline rather than food that fuels him on election nights. "The reason I love doing election nights is that we spend so much time in the run-up to it, trying to figure out what's going on, and coming up with all sorts of different theories," he said. "That's truly where the adrenaline comes in. For me, it's 'I don't know what's going to happen, but we're going to find out.'" Contributing: Saman Shafiq
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Steve Kornacki leaving MSNBC to join NBC News and NBC Sports full time
Steve Kornacki is jumping on board full time at NBC News and NBC Sports, leaving his longtime home at MSNBC. A rep for NBC News confirmed Tuesday that TV's "big board" guy will join NBC Sports as chief data analyst, covering the network's marquee events such as NFL football, the Olympics, and the Kentucky Derby. He is also set to continue as a regular contributor on "Meet the Press," "NBC Nightly News," "Today" and the NBC News Now streaming channel. The move comes as MSNBC, along with most of parent company Comcast's other cable networks, is spun off into a separate, still-unnamed company. USA TODAY has reached out to NBC News for comment. God-like days' are over for big name anchors: Norah O'Donnell signs off, Hoda Kotb's out Kornacki currently pulls double duty at both MSNBC, which he joined in 2012, and NBC News, where he was hired as a national political correspondent in 2017. Kornacki's profile rose during the 2020 presidential election, with his data-driven analysis and whiteboard squiggles becoming a favorite among viewers, as networks waited days to declare a projected winner in the race between former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump. Will the 'khakis' be making a comeback this Election Day? Steve Kornacki says 'we'll see' Kornacki recently opened up to USA TODAY about the buzz surrounding his "Kornacki khakis." Kornacki, 45, told USA TODAY "he truly did not get" the frenzy over his choice of outfit during the last election cycle. The NBC and MSNBC national political correspondent had gone viral on social media for his near 'round the clock election analysis and signature Gap khaki pants during the 2020 presidential election. "I was amused by the interest," Kornacki said. "I never really understood it. It's not like I had (a) lifelong attachment to these pants. They were just what I happened to be wearing that day." NBC's Vicky Nguyen pens 'love letter to America,' immigrants in memoir 'Boat Baby' Like CNN's John King and Fox News' Bill Hemmer, Kornacki told USA TODAY that it's the adrenaline rather than food that fuels him on election nights. "The reason I love doing election nights is that we spend so much time in the run-up to it, trying to figure out what's going on, and coming up with all sorts of different theories," he said. "That's truly where the adrenaline comes in. For me, it's 'I don't know what's going to happen, but we're going to find out.'" Contributing: Saman Shafiq This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Steve Kornacki leaving MSNBC for NBC News and NBC Sports
USA Today
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
NBC's Vicky Nguyen pens ‘love letter to America,' immigrants in memoir ‘Boat Baby'
NBC's Vicky Nguyen pens 'love letter to America,' immigrants in memoir 'Boat Baby' For decades, Vicky Nguyen's immigrant story wasn't one her family often talked about. It was a 'fact of life,' and not something to dwell on, she says. But the NBC News anchor and chief consumer investigative correspondent is ready to change that. Her memoir 'Boat Baby' (out now from Simon & Schuster) tells her story from Vietnam to 30 Rock, bringing readers alongside her parent's immigration journey and her childhood in America with humor and heart. In an interview with USA TODAY, she shares what it was like to turn the investigative spotlight onto her own family story. It takes a village: Nguyen shares family's journey to America Nguyen's family fled Vietnam in 1979, part of the mass exodus of 'boat people' who left the country between 1975 and 1995. Nguyen was just 8 months old. Her parents departed in a small rowboat at night with the help of a smuggler, only a bag each and gold to appease robbers who they'd inevitably come across. They eventually reached the coast of Malaysia safely, where they lived in a refugee camp for 10 months. Nguyen's mother wrote an anxious plea to her American colleagues at Holt International, the nonprofit adoption agency where she worked. Two couples answered, and Nguyen says they 'didn't think twice' about sponsoring the Nguyen family and outfitting them with a furnished apartment in Oregon. Decades later, Nguyen was able to bring those couples to the NBC offices, introducing them to "TODAY" show anchors Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin and Hoda Kotb. 'There's so much in our family's journey that is relatable. You don't have to be Vietnamese and a refugee to recognize the love letter to America, the fact that this is a country where so much is possible, and so many people have done incredible things,' Nguyen says. 'It helps to recognize that the diversity and the fabric of our country is what I think makes it so great, and I'm super grateful to be able to share the fact that my family didn't do it alone.' An American childhood Growing up in America, Nguyen recalls being one of the only Asian kids in her school and often the only one 'relatively fresh off the boat.' She faced racist taunts from white kids at the bus stop. Her classmates and teachers never pronounced her name, Yến, right. But even as her English improved, the other Vietnamese girls at school made fun of her formal way of speaking Vietnamese (she often only spoke to her parents), implying she was trying to be 'an American white girl,' she writes. Beyond the struggle to fit in, it was Nguyen's parents who taught her optimism, resilience and grit. Being the 'most American' in the family, her parents trusted and leaned on her judgment. They even let her lead the house's decor, which she writes became 'pure 'Miami Vice'' under her direction, with teals and pastels everywhere. During this time, her dad also wrote and self-published a guide book for other Vietnamese American immigrants with tips on how to open a bank account or deal with the post office. Nguyen says it feels 'eerily similar' to what she does as a journalist, distilling information to help consumers live smarter lives. 'I realize now my dad was the original author in our family,' she says. Nguyen started college as a biology student. With few Asian TV journalists to look up to, she writes that she didn't realize it was a career she could have. In 'Boat Baby,' she recounts meeting another Asian journalism student and everything changing. 'Why not me?' she asks herself, a refrain she often heard from her parents in their early years in America. She was encouraged by mentors, including at Asian American Journalists Association conferences. Diversity, immigrants are 'our superpower,' Nguyen says Nguyen also shares the racism she experienced in her career beginnings, like strangers driving by and saying 'it's Connie Chung' as she worked or emailing the news station to ask 'Why can't she speak English?' even though she was. And though Nguyen says she's 'never been one to lead with my identity,' that changed during the COVID-19 pandemic as anti-Asian hate crimes began to rise. She started reporting on them more, startled by the fact that 'people who looked like our parents (were being) pushed over in the streets, attacked, beaten, killed, because people were wrongly associating any Asian American with the coronavirus. 'When I started reporting on this and felt the support of other people in my newsroom, people in the community, I realized it is important to bring all of the parts of you to the job, whether it's you're a woman, you're a mother, you're an Asian American because it does open doors to communities who will feel more comfortable talking to you,' Nguyen says. 'You can get to the heart of a story better.' Her parents may not seek the spotlight, but it's a story she wanted to tell because, as she puts it, 'My success is their success.' Spanning from the boat in Vietnam to her life as a mother, wife and journalist in New York City, Nguyen's memoir is a testament to her parents' strength. 'America is a tapestry of immigrant stories,' Nguyen says. 'I would argue it is our superpower that we have so many diverse perspectives. We have the gratitude of people who come from another place and don't take this country for granted and recognize that we can improve always, but so many things are possible in America that are not possible anywhere else. That's why people die to come here.' New books to read: 15 March releases, from new 'Hunger Games' to shocking tell-alls Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NBC's Vicky Nguyen opens up about family's journey from Vietnam
NBC's senior consumer investigative correspondent Vicky Nguyen joins TODAY to share her personal story from her new book 'Boat Baby' about her family's escape to the U.S. from communist-controlled Vietnam with the help of an American couple that they still stay connected with several decades later.
NBC News
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
NBC's Vicky Nguyen shares personal memoir ‘Boat Baby'
NBC News' Vicky Nguyen sits down with Tom Llamas to discuss her new memoir, Boat Baby, about her family's remarkable journey to America as Vietnam refugees.
