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NBC Fires Matt Lauer for Sexual Misconduct, but the Worst Is Yet to Come
www.thedailybeast.com ^ | 11.29.17 8:30 AM ET | Lloyd Grove Tim Teeman

Posted on 11/29/2017 11:34:12 AM PST by Red Badger

The face of ‘Today’ is accused by at least one staffer of sexual misconduct, and several bombshell stories are expected to reveal more.

In perhaps the most shocking media firing in years, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack on Wednesday fired the Today show’s Matt Lauer, the longtime star and mainstay of the news division’s most profitable franchise.

In a statement read on the air at the top of the program by Lauer’s shaken co-host, Savannah Guthrie, Lack said the abrupt termination was prompted by a “detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer.”

The bombshell announcement—a week after CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose was removed from his anchor chair, and had his eponymous PBS and Bloomberg Media show canceled, because of sexual-harassment complaints published by The Washington Post—came amid weeks-long rumors that unnamed outlets were preparing to run an investigation about allegations of Lauer’s workplace misconduct.

CNN reported The New York Times had been working on a story for weeks about Lauer’s alleged misconduct.

“I’m so sorry to say, Norah… that we know how they [Lauer’s NBC News colleagues] feel,” CBS This Morning co-anchor Gayle King said on the air, after her colleague Norah O’Donnell reported that Rose has been the subject of “at least three” new sexual-harassment complaints from female employees at CBS News. “We know that feeling of reeling and shock,” King continued, “and how you just get through it one day at a time. It’s a very, very sad story.”

Predictably, President Donald Trump was far less empathetic in a series of gloating tweets attacking NBC Chairman Lack, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, and even MSNBC President Phil Griffin.

“Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for ‘inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace,’” Trump tweeted. “But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack’s past!”

NBC News and MSNBC declined to comment on Trump’s attacks.

But Scarborough tweeted: “Looks like I picked a good day to stop responding to Trump’s bizarre tweets. He is not well.”

NBC News also did not comment on the New York Post’s report that Lauer allegedly sexually assaulted a female employee during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The report quoted an anonymous NBC insider as saying the woman complained to the network’s human-resources officials Monday.

“This happened so quickly,” the insider told the Post. “She didn’t go to the media, she made a complaint to NBC’s human resources, and her evidence was so compelling that Matt was fired on Tuesday night. The victim says she has evidence that this has also happened to other women, but so far we don’t have evidence of that.”

Lack said the complaint was received Monday night. “It represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company’s standards,” Lack said. “As a result, we’ve decided to terminate his employment. While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”

Lack’s statement continued: “Our highest priority is to create a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected, and to ensure that any actions that run counter to our core values are met with consequences, no matter who the offender. We are deeply saddened by this turn of events, but we will face it together as a news organization—and do it in as transparent a manner as we can.”

Guthrie, who joined Lauer as Today’s permanent cohost in 2012, kept her obviously strained composure as she discussed the terrible news with Hoda Kotb, sitting in for the banished Lauer.

“We just learned this moments ago, just this morning,” Guthrie said. “As I’m sure you can imagine, we are devastated. We are still processing all of this. And I will tell you, we do not know more than what I just shared with you. But we will be covering this story, as reporters, as journalists. I’m sure we will be learning more details in hours and days to come. And we promise we will share that with you.”

Turning to Kotb, Guthrie, near tears, added: “And Hoda, I mean, you know, all we can say for the moment is that we are heartbroken. I am heartbroken for Matt. He is my dear, dear friend and my partner, and he is beloved by many, many people here. And I am heartbroken for the brave colleague who came forward to tell her story, and any other women who have their own stories to tell. We are grappling with a dilemma that so many people have faced these past few weeks: How do you reconcile your love for someone with the revelation that they have behaved badly. And I don’t know the answer to that. But I do know that this reckoning that so many organizations have been going through is important, it’s long overdue and must result in workplaces where all women, all people, feel safe and respected.”

Guthrie continued: “As painful as it is this moment in our culture, and this change, had to happen.”

“Yeah, it did,” Kotb responded, her face as mask of sadness. “This is a very tough morning for both of us. I’ve known Matt for 15 years, and I’ve loved him as a friend and as a colleague. And again, just like you were saying, Savannah, it’s hard to reconcile what we are hearing with the man who we know.”

Kotb continued: “We both woke up with this news, pre-dawn. We are trying to process it and trying make sense of it and it will take some time for that.”

Guthrie added, addressing viewers directly: “We are processing it with all of you at home. We promise to be transparent and straightforward and continue this important conversation… There’s no real way to do this.”

Guthrie concluded: ‘This show has been on air for more than 65 years. … We’re supposed to bring you the news…and so we move along…”

And she transitioned to the show’s second lead, and arguably less upsetting story: the ballistic-missile launch in North Korea.

NBC newbie Megyn Kelly added her voice to the controversy on her eponymous program on Today’s 9 a.m. hour.

“This one does hit close to home,” said the former Fox News star, grim-faced and straight to camera after showing clips of Guthrie and Kotb commiserating over Lauer’s professional demise. “I, too, have known Matt for a long time, and he has been a friend and kind and supportive to me in my transition to NBC News.

I see the anguish on my colleagues’ faces. When this happens, what we don’t see is the pain on the faces of those who found the courage to come forward. It is a terrifying thing to do.”

Kelly, whose complaint about her harassment by the late Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes was a major factor in Ailes’s firing in July 2016, continued: “We don’t see the career opportunities women lose because of sexual harassment, or the intense stress it causes a woman dealing with it when she comes to work each day. I am thinking of those women this morning, hoping they are OK.

“The days to come will not be easy. We are in the middle of a sea change in this country, an empowerment revolution, in which women who for years felt they had no choice but to simply deal with being harassed at work are now starting to picture another reality, to feel that change is within their grasp.

“As painful as this moment is for so many here at NBC today, at CBS earlier this month, at Fox News over the last year, in Hollywood this fall, it is a sign of progress, of women finding their voices, their courage, and of the erosion of a shameful power imbalance that has been in place for far too long…

“My experience is that a news organization is bigger than any one person. They all face challenges. They all stumble. But the good ones stay standing and forge forward, fulfilling their core mission: journalism.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: andylack; creepydemocrats; democratpredators; democratwaronwomen; leftistmolesters; mattlauer; mattlauerfired; mediasexscandals; metoo; nbc; nbcnews; perverts; sexscandals; today
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To: semaj

Only a liberal could be less upset over a Nuclear Missile launch than a perverted colleague being fired................


121 posted on 11/29/2017 2:18:27 PM PST by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: DesertRhino
Lauer might be gay, but a buzz cut is not indicator of such.

I live in the deep South and nearly every other guy has a buzz cut...and I wouldn't suggest to any of them that their haircut is gay (at least not if you want to live).

Disclosure: I have been buzz cutting my hair since it got thin on top. Shaved it bald some years and buzzed the rest.

No one has ever accused me of being gay. Not and lived.;-)

122 posted on 11/29/2017 3:01:23 PM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: RoosterRedux

Agreed; I got my first “HIGH & TIGHT” in boot camp and have worn it that way ever since.
As Forest Gump so famously said, “one less thing to worry about”.


123 posted on 11/29/2017 3:11:36 PM PST by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: semaj

Yes, she transitioned, to the left the possibility of WWIII, is small potatoes when harassment is on tap.


124 posted on 11/29/2017 3:15:24 PM PST by Empireoftheatom48 (God did help the Republic, can we keep it.)
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To: RoosterRedux

Well hell, not in the south. Ok, i take it back. I was wrong. (...what the hell is happening to me?)


125 posted on 11/29/2017 3:30:01 PM PST by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ... we.)
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To: DesertRhino
Give yourself a buzz cut and you'll feel better in the morning.;-)

And go down to your Marine recruiter in the morning and give him a good cup o'Joe.

I am an old fart, but I wish I could sign up.

126 posted on 11/29/2017 3:34:26 PM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: RoosterRedux

You’re batting 1000 and restoring my sense of sanity today. I’m having cornbread and a shot of whiskey tonight.


127 posted on 11/29/2017 3:37:34 PM PST by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ... we.)
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To: DesertRhino

Save some for me.;-)


128 posted on 11/29/2017 3:40:55 PM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: DesertRhino
As an aside, I have a recipe for Mexican cornbread which is unbelievable.

I'll have to dig it up, but you can probably find a better recipe on line.

Smother it with butter.

129 posted on 11/29/2017 3:42:26 PM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: RoosterRedux

I need to do just that.


130 posted on 11/29/2017 3:46:21 PM PST by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ... we.)
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To: Alberta's Child
I assume the employer knew about the guy’s story for years, and looked the other way all along. They fired him this time because it was about to become a public story outside NBC.

As I listened to a local DJ read the report this morning, he played a clip of someone from nbc reading a letter from nbc brass. The letter said, in part, something about "living our values of a safe work place for all our employees" or some such nonsense, and I replied to the radio, BS. I believe the brass knew about this for a while now and their "safe work place" schtick only applied to the important people at nbc.

131 posted on 11/29/2017 3:47:50 PM PST by HusbandMan
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To: DesertRhino
I live on a high protein diet to keep my weight down...but I just might make a Mexican cornbread for Christmas this year.

Might even add some oysters (my parents often made oyster dressing when they were alive).

132 posted on 11/29/2017 3:50:28 PM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: ptsal

Is a liar better than a sex harasser? Maybe Williams will get the Today show gig.


133 posted on 11/29/2017 3:50:32 PM PST by King Moonracer (Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.....Dirty Bob Mueller)
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To: abb

Ya might just wanna check out that link you posted....LOL!


134 posted on 11/29/2017 3:53:46 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (My cat is not fat, she is just big boned........)
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To: Hot Tabasco

My goodness! Reckon what happened? It was a valid wiki article when I posted the link.


135 posted on 11/29/2017 4:02:43 PM PST by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: Hot Tabasco

this one’s good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Lack_(executive)


136 posted on 11/29/2017 4:03:52 PM PST by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: Red Badger

It is not possible to OD on schadenfreude, the more you indulge, the happier you become, and your overall mental health improves!


137 posted on 11/29/2017 4:05:21 PM PST by RooRoobird20 ("Democrats haven't been this angry since Republicans freed the slaves.")
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To: abb

Check it again dude..........sheesh!


138 posted on 11/29/2017 4:27:38 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (My cat is not fat, she is just big boned........)
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To: Hot Tabasco

Now that’s weird.


139 posted on 11/29/2017 4:28:56 PM PST by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: ExNewsExSpook

One can only hope


140 posted on 11/29/2017 7:29:23 PM PST by Cannoneer ( "..raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.." GW)
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