Today‘s Jenna Bush Hager grilled guest host Donna Farizan for rejecting her phone call just days before they guest hosted the broadcast together.
During Thursday’s (Aug. 28) pre-recorded broadcast, the co-hosts were discussing why Millennials and Gen Z-ers are experiencing a growing generational divide when it comes to talking on the phone. But Bush Hager could not hide how frustrated the new trend makes her, going so far as to issue a PSA to any Gen Z-ers watching at home.
“It’s interesting because it is a generational thing,” Farizan, who is approximately 10 years younger by Bush Hager’s count, admitted. “I sometimes don’t like to talk on the phone.”
“That’s why you didn’t answer when I called you the other day,” Bush Hager responded, prompting laughs from Farizan and the Today studio crew. “I mean, for real.”
Farizan admitted it was “true” through her laughter as Bush Hager said, “Y’all laugh like it’s a joke but I called her and she didn’t answer.”
Farizan then tried to defend herself, adding, “But then we texted!”
“‘But then we texted,'” Bush Hager mimicked. “Y’all, it ain’t the same.” She then went on to issue a PSA to remind younger viewers that they can easily hop on the phone to speak to someone when they have to.
“I’m just gonna have to give everybody a little PSA. Wheres my camera?” she said before addressing the camera directly. “I just want to say if you’re under a certain age and you write somebody an email and you think, ‘Hey, why haven’t they gotten me back?’ Then you write them a text and they don’t respond, guess what you can do? You can pick up a phone! You can call and say, ‘Hey, just thinking about you, trying to call.’ It doesn’t all have to be on email or text.”
While Farizan admitted, “There is truth to that,” she maintained, “I love talking on the phone with you.”
But Bush Hager would not let Farizan forget that she still ignored her phone call just days before guest hosting Today With Jenna & Friends.
“One you get on the phone with me you like it, you dread it when you see me calling,” Bush Hager said. “I know you do because you silenced me and then you texted, ‘I’ll call you in a few days.'”
Today with Jenna & Friends airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.