Or something.

The nation’s top selling conservative author has been banned from appearing on NBC, insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

Banned for life!

“We are just not going to have her on any more, it’s over,” a top network source explains…

“We are just not interested in anyone so highly critical of President-elect Obama, right now,” a TODAY insider reveals. “It’s such a downer. It’s just not the time, and it’s not what our audience wants, either.”

Media Matters pushed them to cancel but there was no nutroots groundswell that I’m aware of. They knew what they were getting when they booked her considering what happened the last time she was on and her tendency to refer to The One in interviews as “B. Hussein Obama.” Scheduling her put them in a spot where they’d either have to go through with it and spoil their new liberal Olber-brand or cave and be ridiculed endlessly for lefty pandering by O’Reilly and Fox. So, er, why’d they do it? And why would someone at the show give a quote that juicy to Drudge knowing what he’d do with it, given that he’s a friend of Coulter’s and dependably promotes her books whenever a new one drops? Anyone else find this strange/stupid, even by NBC’s standards?

Update: Stranger still.

Late today, NBC News denied the story with this statement: “We’ve had Ann Coulter on ‘Today’ many times, but because of the news in Washington and the Middle East, we decided to cancel her appearance tomorrow. Understanding the media as well as she does, we are sure she knows this happens from time to time. We look forward to welcoming her back in the future.”…

The Drudge story says NBC “replaced Coulter with showbiz reporter Perez Hilton,” who also has a book being released tomorrow. NBC tells TVNewser Hilton is just appearing in the fourth hour and had been booked far in advance.

“The news in Washington and the Middle East” is sufficiently dire to leave no time for Coulter but some time for Perez Hilton?