Matt Lauer and Daytime Emmys: Is he really donating money for being thanked?

Anyone tuning in late to the Daytime Emmys tonight might have been wondering why on earth everyone was thanking Matt Lauer… and we’re pretty sure that’s exactly what renowned prankster Ellen DeGeneres was hoping would happen.

The Daytime Emmy Awards began with a faux Entertainment Tonight report featuring Ellen DeGeneres and Matt Lauer seemingly putting their notorious prank war to bed. The two have been trying to one-up each other ever since Ellen edited video footage of Lauer to look as though he was dressed in BDSM gear while interviewing Fifty Shades of Grey stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson.

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Tonight, however, the two were unified in their promise to finally move past their feuding ways. At least, that’s what it looked like — until the footage was edited to show Lauer stripping off his suit to reveal another sex slave outfit while Ellen asked him to confirm that no editing had been done to the video!

The most confusing part of the whole video, however, wasn’t Lauer’s kinky attire or hearing him say to Ellen, “I hear you know your way around a drain snake.” It was his promise to donate $1,000 to anyone who thanked him in their Emmy award acceptance speech.

$1,000? Really, Lauer?

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Although we wouldn’t be surprised if these two truly had teamed up to donate to charity, it’s such a strange request that we can’t help but wonder if the whole video isn’t just another big Ellen prank on Lauer and everyone else at the Emmys. Host Tyra Banks thanked him nearly a dozen times alone, with both Nancy O’Dell and Craig Ferguson thanking him three times each in their acceptance speeches!

By the end of the night, Matt Lauer had been thanked a total of 41 times, tallying a grand total of $41,000 to be donated to the as-yet-unnamed charity. But if this is just another Ellen prank (and by “just another prank” we actually mean her best prank ever), then we’re betting she’ll have to foot the bill both financially and publicly when all the award winners who fell for the trick decide to exact their revenge.

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What do you think? Will Matt Lauer really be donating $41,000 to charity, or was it all another trick by Ellen? Watch the video below and tell us what you think in the comments!