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Henry Louis Gates Jr. just put Al Roker on blast. While naming his list of dream guests for the show Finding Your Roots, which dives into the hidden ancestry of its celebrity guests, the Harvard professor revealed that Roker once bailed on his scheduled appearance.
On this morning’s episode of The Today Show, Gates sat down with hosts Roker, Craig Melvin and Sheinelle Jones to promote Finding Your Roots Season 10, which will feature Ciara and Alanis Morissette when the first episode premieres tonight (Jan. 2) at 8/7c on PBS.
When asked if he had any dream guests, Gates turned to the weatherman and called him out directly.
“Um. Let me see. Al Roker!” he said, per Today. “I have begged him. He’d say yes and then he called and said he changed his mind.”
At the end of the interview, Melvin joked that he “can’t wait” until Roker “sits at the table” with Gates, who then asked, “Is this a commitment?” to which Roker replied, “Yeah, we will talk about this. Seriously.”
However, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade host noted that he has to talk to his siblings before making anything official.
Aside from Roker, Gates said he would love to have Dolly Parton, Clint Eastwood and Johnny Mathis on the show. The television personality also named Martin Scorsese on the list, telling the co-hosts, “I would love [to get him]. He’s like God to me.”
According to Gates, those who made it to his roundup of dream guests are “people who were heroes” to him — and people he “admire[s].”
One of the celebrities he previously interviewed was Whoopi Goldberg, whom he reunited with on this morning’s episode of The View.
Because it’s been years since she appeared on Finding Your Roots, Gates also brought some new information about her ancestry when he revealed that she is “DNA cousins” with former NFL player Tony Gonzalez, prompting Goldberg’s mouth to drop open in shock.
“You can be kissing cousins,” Joy Behar joked, while Gates added, “How about that for a Christmas present?”
