As the co-host of NBC’s “Today,” Matt Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present. It included an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her, which left her mortified.
On another day, he summoned a different female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis. After the employee declined to do anything, visibly shaken, he reprimanded her for not engaging in a sexual act.
He would sometimes quiz female producers about who they’d slept with, offering to trade names. And he loved to engage in a crass quiz game with men and women in the office: “f—, marry, or kill,” in which he would identify the female co-hosts that he’d most like to sleep with.
These accounts of Lauer’s behavior at NBC are the result of a two-month investigation by Variety, with dozens of interviews with current and former staffers. Variety has talked to three women who identified themselves as victims of sexual harassment by Lauer, and their stories have been corroborated by friends or colleagues that they told at the time. They have asked for now to remain unnamed, fearing professional repercussions.
On Wednesday, NBC announced that Lauer was fired from “Today.” It was a stunning move for a co-host who was widely considered the crown jewel of the network’s news division, with a $25 million annual salary. The cause of his dismissal, according to sources, was a detailed complaint from another current NBC employee about inappropriate sexual conduct from Lauer that started on a trip at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and continued for several months.
The employee met with human resources at NBC on Monday night. In a statement, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack called this the first complaint about his behavior in over 20 years and acknowledged that it may not be the last: “We were also presented with reason to believe that this may not have been an isolated incident,” Lack said.
Several women told Variety they complained to executives at the network about Lauer’s behavior, which fell on deaf ears given the lucrative advertising surrounding “Today.” NBC declined to comment. For most of Lauer’s tenure at “Today,” the morning news show was No. 1 in the ratings, and executives were eager to keep him happy.
It’s not clear if NBC is paying Lauer through the end of his contract, which expires in 2018. Lauer couldn’t be reached for comment.
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17 comments:
I've worked with women all my life and would never in a million years say anything to them other then hi, bye or a question related to work. These guys have lost their minds and HOW do they think this weird stuff up. Ugh!
This is utterly explosive and it seems a long-held secret within NBC. "As his star rose he felt emboldened and that his privacy would be kept..." He punished producers who didn't return his sexual advances. This is a ground zero of sexual misdeeds. Will there be any criminal charges involved in this? Civil suits?
Wow. Just wow!
Lack knew about all this, he just turned a blind eye to it. Shame on NBC for allowing this to continue for years. Lauer was never worth it!
The Hill has also been working on this story now for two weeks. Looks like Lack was trying to get ahead of the news break with Lauer's termination.
"His office was in a secluded space, and he had a button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from the inside without getting up. This afforded him the assurance of privacy. It allowed him to welcome female employees and initiate inappropriate contact while knowing nobody could walk in on him, according to two women who were sexually harassed by Lauer."
A button to let him lock the door without getting up from his desk? That's not just harassment that predatory actions.
Trump tweeted the Lack should be looked into. WOW! Can't believe Lack didn't know this was going on. Who had to sign off on installing that button?
5:30 Many corporate executives have similar buttons and other stealth devices in their office/suites. Most of it is security related but can be used for nefarious reasons as well.
5:23 I absolutely agree. Looks like his behavior was well known and had probably been going on for a while. Now all these jerks are going to go down because people are lining up to tell their stories. Notice it has been more liberals than conservatives.
I was employed in my early thirties and had females jump me that were ten years younger. Being married, I had to back away. I don't understand how a female "on another day" can go without mentioning to superiors on the spot, that the dude dropped his laundry showing his mess.
Who had to sign off on installing that button?
November 29, 2017 at 5:30 PM
Maybe no one. Matt was a big man around there, making tons of money and with that comes power.
So, with all this guff that's going on with 17 harasses, what's REALLY going on behind the curtain, oh Wizard of OZ?
I've been the only woman in a company full of men and I have to say that they have never said anything I would consider inappropriate to me, sometimes they tell jokes about women and I usually follow up with a joke about guys. We all are like family and no one gets offended. The key to men and women getting along with out sexual harassment is to follow this one rule. If you wouldn't say it to your mom, sister or daughter than you don't say it to any other girls. Same goes for women when they talk to guys. Nothing more needs to be explained.
Comcast owns NBC, and is a publicly traded company with extremely deep pockets. Expensive lawyers will do very well as this proceeds.
Aggressive men rise to the top of their professions, and aggressive men have high levels of testosterone. That makes them have overly active sex drives. The heads of companies, congressmen, media heads, and the entertainment industries all have this "problem." It is an inherent problem. The same thing that makes them rise to the top, causes their sexual aggression. It is a psychological and endocrinology issue. The answer? Treat it like any other medical disorder. They can't fire every top male performer at every business and in congress, even if they try in this politically charged witch hunt and attack on male heads of organizations. Once the pendulum finishes swinging, and returns to the center, it will be recognized that the same thing that makes these men so successful, is also a flaw in their psyche, caused by an overactive hormone. Funny too, that many women are ATTRACTED to men in powerful positions. Once the media and political partisans finish exploiting this new observation of the connection between top male performers and their compulsion to follow their over-hyped sex drives, it will be viewed as the medical disorder and hormonal imbalance that it is. They aren't all perverts, and many of these women complainers were attracted to these men before it became a political and media fad to go after these men for their own fame and fortune.
Overly active sex drives my butt. Maybe he should have gone home to his WIFE and taken care of his sex drive. Or even called her into his fancy office with the locking door button under the desk. She seemed like a really nice woman who would have been glad to take care of any sexual issues. She also seemed like she just wanted him to stay home and stop roaming. Did he? Obviously not. Same as a lot of men. Should she stay married to him? Not in my opinion. I would not. But that is her prerogative. The women that he worked with were threatened with various things and some felt they had no choice. That actually would not have been me either because I would have casually picked up a nice paperweight off of his desk and clocked him but that is just me. My dignity is worth something to me.
November 30, 2017 at 9:16 AM;
Said in response to my comment as only a woman would respond. How about hormonal imbalances when women have their periods, and they treat everyone around them terribly, as if it their fault? Or when they're pregnant and act totally irrational because of hormonal changes that they have no control over? I bet you have a totally different opinion about hormones affecting behavior when it comes to women. I don't. I am not sexist, and I am not blinded by your gender.
You are anti-man, so jump on the bandwagon.
November 30, 2017 at 9:16 AM:
Rare is the wife that will accommodate a highly successful man's hyperactive sex drive. More likely, they are looking for relief and are grateful when the husband seeks satisfaction outside of the home. The wives of these successful men are thankful for the money and the lifestyle that these men provide for them; however, they can't be there all the time as these men constantly require sexual gratification due to their hormonal demands. I believe you WOULD stay with a husband like that, like most other women do. Just because of the benefits you would enjoy as the wife of a highly successful person. You are no different from their wives. Step off your pedestal for a moment and look in a mirror. What you spout off about is not something you will ever have to worry about.
Good Lord 9:43 AM. I'm glad you didn't bring up menopause. And women all think men are just supposed to "understand." Yet they have no clue, or desire to learn, how testosterone affects male behavior.
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