Lauer: Tip of the NBC Iceberg?

As that old adage states, appearances are not always what they seem. On Wednesday, the nation learned the shocking news that Matt Lauer, the face of NBC’s “Today” show for the past 20 years, had been fired over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Since the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault revelations broke two months ago, the country has witnessed a steady stream of powerful men in media being brought down over allegations of sexual misbehavior. The ones in government just keep trucking along.

When NBC News Chairman Andy Lack announced the firing, he said that this was the first complaint that had been raised against Lauer in over 20 years. However, that claim now seems dubious as news about Lauer’s alleged behavior has begun to trickle out. If anything, it’s beginning to sound like the NBC News office mirrored that of the TV show “Mad Men,” with the regularity of off-color jokes and “a lot of consensual relationships.” A former producer with firsthand knowledge said, “[Lauer] couldn’t sleep around town with celebrities or on the road with random people, because he’s Matt Lauer and he’s married. So, he’d have to do it within his stable, where he exerted power, and he knew people wouldn’t ever complain.”

Earlier this month, Lauer’s longtime booker and close colleague, Matt Zimmerman, whom Lauer had promoted into an executive position, was fired over sexual harassment complaints. Variety magazine reported that employees at “Today” were well aware of rumors regarding Lauer’s behavior, with one former reporter saying, “Management sucks there. They protected the s— out of Matt Lauer.”

In what now is an amazingly eerie interview for its blatant hypocrisy, earlier this year, Lauer grilled Bill O'Reilly, who had been fired by Fox News over allegations of sexual misconduct.

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