More firings:
Matt Lauer, left top, and Garrison Keillor, bottom, lose their jobs over allegations of improper behavior.
NEW YORK — The wave of sexual harassment allegations roiling American society broke over a familiar figure, “Today” show host Matt Lauer, who was fired by NBC News on Wednesday for what its chairman termed “inappropriate sexual behavior.”
Lauer, 59, may be the best-known, and perhaps best-liked, of the men whose high-flying careers have crashed in the wake of accusations besetting media, government and the entertainment industry over the past two months. Over more than 20 years as a national figure, Lauer greeted millions of viewers each weekday morning as the co-host of the popular “Today” program, commanding a $25 million-a-year salary in the process.
In a staff memo, NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack said the network received “a detailed” complaint about Lauer on Monday night.
“It represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company’s standards. As a result, we’ve decided to terminate his employment.”
Lack provided few details about Lauer’s accuser or the nature of her allegation. But he said, “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.”
Indeed, several hours after Lauer was dismissed, the show-business publication Variety published a detailed account of allegations against him, based on interviews with three women who said they were victimized by him.
Variety said Lauer, who is married, once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present and included an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her. He also allegedly invited another female employee to his office and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis. He then reprimanded her for not engaging in a sexual act.
Variety said Lauer’s harassment was abetted by a special button at his desk that activated a locking mechanism on his office door, enabling him to lock the door without getting up. This ensured that he could initiate inappropriate contact with female employees without worrying that anyone would walk in on him, Variety said.
The women said they told NBC executives about Lauer, but their complaints were ignored to protect a star of the network’s most profitable news franchise.
NBC received two more complaints about Lauer after his dismissal on Wednesday, according to the New York Times, including one from a former employee who said Lauer invited her to his office in 2001 and had sex with her. She told the newspaper that she didn’t report the encounter because she didn’t want to lose her job and felt ashamed.
NBC News did not respond to a request for comment.
Lauer joined “Today” in 1994 as its news anchor. He became co-host of the morning program with Katie Couric in 1997 after Bryant Gumbel stepped down.
His current co-host, Savannah Guthrie, read Lack’s statement on the air on Wednesday’s program, her voice and manner betraying sadness and discomfort with the news.
NBC also owns “Access Hollywood,” the entertainment-news program that captured then-candidate Donald Trump on video in 2005 bragging that he molests women. NBC News was aware of the recording, but delayed reporting on it last year during the presidential campaign. The recording was leaked to The Post last year.