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Al Roker explains ‘Today’ show absence as he’s forced to rush out mid-broadcast

Make Page Six a Preferred Source Al Roker had to abruptly leave “Today” on Monday to attend jury duty.

“Well, got out of the ‘Today’ show early because I’ve got jury duty,” the weatherman explained while standing outside a New York City courthouse in an Instagram video.

“It’s everybody’s civic duty to do the duty,” he continued, before laughing and adding, “I said duty twice!”

He captioned his clip, “Hey now!!! All rise!! Time for #juryduty.”

During Monday’s “Today” broadcast, Roker, 72, gave the weather forecast several times before he rushed out of Studio 1 in Rockefeller Center and had Dylan Dreyer fill in for him.

“We have Dylan taking over for Al, who had to leave a little bit early,” Savannah Guthrie told viewers.

Dreyer, 45, explained, “Yeah, a little switcheroo again this morning.”

Roker then missed the show’s third hour that he co-hosts with Dreyer and Craig Melvin. Sports reporter Kaylee Hartung filled in for him.

“Al had to step out for just a little bit. He’ll be back tomorrow,” Melvin, 47, said of his colleague. “He’ll be back tomorrow.”

In the morning, Roker posted a video from the gym that showed him on the treadmill, lifting weights and doing a balance exercise.

“Good morning, @starttoday_ family. Let’s get the week started off right,” Roker captioned his clip, played to the theme song from the ’80s sci-fi series “The A-Team.”

The journalist credited his trainer, Jose Garcia, with putting him through his “paces this morning” ahead of “another busy weather week.”

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In July, Roker was involved in a scary security incident at the “Today” show headquarters.

Page Six confirmed an intruder, later identified as Andrew Truelove, looking for Roker broke into the studio and had an 8-10 second interaction with Craig Melvin — during which he called Melvin the N-word — before he was arrested.

Truelove was hit with a slew of hate crime charges for the intrusion — including hate crime menacing, hate crime burglary, hate crime criminal trespass and harassment charges. His bail was set at $10,000, The Post confirmed.

Additionally, both Roker and Melvin were granted protective orders against him.

Following the incident, Melvin took to Instagram to share a statement, assuring his fans he was “doing just fine.”

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Read original at New York Post

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