If he was ashamed, he never would have done it. As for the friend still believing in him, the friend is an idiot.
Not so sure that there is a friend. This reminds me of one of those stories that starts out “I have this friend who has a problem see and he doesn’t know what to do about it . . .” My money is on a lawyer, agent or publicist, with a vested interest in rehabilitating Matt’s image, if not Lauer, himself.