Questions for NBC about Lauer
Executives insist recent complaint first against star
NEW YORK — Even as Matt Lauer apologized for sexual misconduct and NBC prepared for life without him at the “Today” show Thursday, questions lingered about who knew about his behavior and whether women at the network could have been protected.
Lauer was fired late Tuesday after an NBC employee detailed what NBC News chief Andrew Lack described as Lauer’s “inappropriate sexual behavior” that began at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
Two other women came forward Wednesday with complaints, with one telling The New York Times that Lauer had sexually assaulted her in his office in 2001. A Variety magazine investigation outlined a pattern of alleged salacious behavior, including three women who said Lauer harassed them.
Lauer’s first public response to his firing was read by his former co-host, Savannah Guthrie, on “Today” on Thursday.
“I regret that my shame is now shared by the people I cherish dearly,” Lauer said in the statement. “Repairing the damage will take a lot of time and soul-searching and I’m committed to beginning that effort. It is now my full-time job.”
Lack said Monday’s complaint was the first one management had received about Lauer. In private meetings with NBC staff, he and top deputy Noah Oppenheim — former executive producer at “Today” — stressed they were unaware of the activity.
According to Variety, several women said they complained to NBC executives about Lauer’s behavior, but their concerns “fell on deaf ears” because the show — which consistently ranks second among the morning lineups — is so important to the network financially. The women spoke to the magazine under condition of anonymity.
After the Variety story was posted and NBC received the additional complaints, the network stressed that no one in “current” NBC News management had been aware of Lauer’s behavior.
CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker, who was executive producer of “Today” in the 1990s and eventually rose to head of NBC Universal, said at a business conference on Thursday that “there was never even a whisper” of suggestion that Lauer was engaged in deviant or predatory behavior.
“I’ve known Matt for 25 years and I didn’t know this Matt,” Zucker said at Business Insider’s Ignition conference. He called the news “incredibly, incredibly heartbreaking.”