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Matt Lauer terminated at NBC News for sexual misconduct in the workplace

NBC News abruptly terminated Matt Lauer for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace. Lauer, the primary anchor of the network’s signature show TODAY, moved from the news desk in 1997 to replace anchor Bryant Gumbel.

As the day played out, more women told their own stories of abuse and discomfort in dealing with Lauer.

Rival ABC News challenged statements by NBC execs claiming they didn’t know anything about Lauer’s workplace misdeeds. Some former NBC employees say that the TODAY show was a “boy’s club” that centered around Lauer and that anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb feigned shock in announcing Lauer’s firing on air.

Accounts of a 2008 NYC Friar’s Roast of Matt Lauer clearly indicate that NBC execs were fully aware of their morning star’s sexcapades. A Village Voice columnist crudely recapped the night as “three hours of dick jokes.”

Matt Lauer and Donald Trump

During Lauer’s tenure there had been personal controversies, tension with female co-hosts, including the awkward removal of beloved anchor Ann Curry, and a rumored affair with former news anchor Natalie Morales. Both Morales and Lauer have denied the allegations. Media couldn’t stop reporting on the alleged affair as Morales was shipped out west to host the fluff-filled NBC show Access Hollywood.

In spite of multiple reports by the New York Times, Variety, and the New York Post detailing abuse stories by many women, NBC News has yet to offer more details about Lauer’s firing or the identity of the original accuser. NBC received a thorough complaint from that co-worker on Monday and investigated all day Tuesday before deciding late that night to fire the network’s longest serving primary news anchor.

Lauer allegedly sent lewd texts and propositioned an intern who accompanied the network crew to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

The New York Times shared more graphic details of another Lauer co-worker’s account of her assault in his office, which is equipped with a button on his desk that automatically locks the door.

From the November 29 New York Times story on sexual misconduct allegations against Matt Lauer

Sources at NBC told various media outlets that the door-locking mechanisms are security measures for high profile employees.

Matt Lauer and Natalie Morales

Matt Lauer grilled former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly on TODAY in September, asking many questions that other media people would love to ask of him.

Will NBC’s signature comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live skewer Matt Lauer on this weekend’s new episode? The show has been brutal to conservatives like O’Reily who, like Lauer, was fired for sexual harassment in the workplace.

SNL famously avoided torching Harvey Weinstein for weeks before eventually acknowledging his sexual abuse charges. Weinstein, a wealthy Hollywood Liberal who donated millions to Democrats over the years, avoided the instant vilification reserved for conservatives.

Democrat Al Franken, a former SNL cast member, was given one passing shot on the show.

Hillary Clinton gave a hazy reply when asked if she would return millions her family campaigns have accepted from Weinstein.

One archived video the network is sure to scrub from its site is a 2012 parody of various NBC male employees sexually harassing each other. A panel of NBC men and women then join in to laugh about the sketch. Actor Dustin Hoffman, another prominent sexual harasser, ends the segment by making a joke about a news anchor “showing his willie.”

terrymeiners
dad. husband. observer. media personality. pathological flyer.
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