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.Īccording to sources, the sexual harassment extended to when Lauer traveled on assignment for NBC. This afforded him the assurance of privacy. 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. Lauer, who was paranoid about being followed by tabloid reporters, grew more emboldened at 30 Rockefeller Center as his profile rose following Katie Couric’s departure from “Today” in 2006. So he’d have to do it within his stable, where he exerted power, and he knew people wouldn’t ever complain.” ![]() “He couldn’t sleep around town with celebrities or on the road with random people, because he’s Matt Lauer and he’s married. “There were a lot of consensual relationships, but that’s still a problem because of the power he held,” says a former producer who knew first-hand of these encounters. For Lauer, work and sex were intertwined. He once made a suggestive reference to a colleague’s performance in bed and compared it to how she was able to complete her job, according to witnesses to the exchange. He was known for making lewd comments verbally or over text messages. But behind the scenes, Lauer was a different person.ĭespite being married, Lauer was fixated on women, especially their bodies and looks, according to more than 10 accounts from current and former employees. In front of the camera, for more than two decades, Lauer had positioned himself as America’s squeaky-clean dad. ![]() Now, against a series of questions about the future of “Today,” a troubling portrait has emerged of Lauer. Insiders say that NBC was forced to act quickly after this week’s complaint, given the severity of the accusations and the national dialogue around sexual harassment that has ended the careers of Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, Kevin Spacey, Louis C.K. It’s not clear if NBC is paying Lauer through the end of his contract, which expires in 2018. 1 in the ratings, and executives were eager to keep him happy. For most of Lauer’s tenure at “Today,” the morning news show was No. 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. In a statement, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack called this the first complaint about Lauer’s behavior in more than 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. The employee met with human resources at NBC on Monday night. 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. Africa, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, China, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Fiji, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Iraq, Jamaica, Jersey, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Macau, Macedonia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Ukraine, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (U.S.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.
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