The point is that Matt Lauer didn’t install it himself. Someone else had to do that, and that contractor or building custodian would likely know about things like a building code that Lauer and his enablers didn’t care about.
And if the installer had objected, they would have been fired, and the next person instructed to do the job.
I do not disagree with your point, but in rarefied atmospheres like “30 Rock”, rules are for other people - almost no matter the rule.
NBC is one of Rockefeller Center’s biggest and oldest tenants. NBC has its own facilities management department that handles all the internal work. That mgr/director co-ordinates with Rock Centers counterpart. In any case electrical security locks are as common as NYC ‘s homeless. The purpose is to prevent unwanted or unauthorized entry, not prevent egress, that being the primary concern of building safety codes.