NBC NEWS RELEASE

Longtime boss Lack is ousted after controversies

The new boss of NBCUniversal announced a surprise shake-up Monday that will include the ouster of longtime NBC News Chairman Andy Lack.

Jeff Shell’s restructuring means Lack — who came under fire after Ronan Farrow’s book “Catch and Kill” accused NBC News executives, including Lack’s right-hand man Noah Oppenheim, of killing his Harvey Weinstein reporting — will leave at the end of the month, instead of after the 2020 presidential election, as previously planned.

Lack, who has also been accused of downplaying an explosive rape allegation against former “Today” host Matt Lauer, will be replaced by Telemundo chief Cesar Conde, who will oversee NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC.

“There had been talk of management changes for a while,” said a source close to NBC. “Andy is so past his prime. Between the Ronan debacle, the Lauer debacle and even before that the Megyn Kelly and Brian Williams debacles, it’s no wonder he’s out.”

During Lack’s first tour of duty with NBC in the 1990s and early aughts, he was credited with pushing “NBC Nightly News” to the front of the ratings line with Tom Brokaw — and for having hired Matt Lauer to replace Bryant Gumbel when he retired from the “Today” show.

Since his return to NBC in 2015, however, his division has been riddled with controversy, starting with his defense of Brian Williams after the “NBC Nightly News” host was found to have embellished an Iraqi war story on air.

There were ratings missteps as well, including

Lack’s bungled attempt to turn Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly into an NBCU star by giving her two shows that tanked in the ratings, and a three-year contract worth $69 million. She was given her walking papers just a year and a half later, after defending Halloween costumes that incorporate blackface on her morning talk show.

Lauer, who had reportedly been sleeping with staffers for years, was also fired on Lack’s watch after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged in 2017.

But NBC’s biggest embarrassment under Lack might have been Farrow’s getting his Pulitzer Prize-winning story on convicted Hollywood rapist Weinstein published in the New Yorker just two months after he stopped working on it for NBC. Monday’s restructuring came as this year’s Pulitzers were being awarded.

Monday’s changes reflect Shell’s attempt to put his stamp on the broadcasting giant after taking over the CEO role from longtime boss Steve Burke earlier this year.

In addition to appointing Conde, 46, to head the news division, Shell also named Mark Lazarus chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a unit that includes NBCU’s new streaming service, Peacock.

Oppenheim, who had been presumed to be Lack’s successor, remains NBC News president, reporting to Conde.

The executive changes come as the company prepares to cut costs in order to manage the fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic.