Variety Bombshell: Matt Lauer Sexually Harassed Multiple Women
Libs Are Super Excited About This “Gaytivity” Scene
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November 29, 2017Variety just came out with a pretty juicy exclusive on disgraced journalist Matt Lauer. I mean, get a load of the first two sentences of this bad boy.
“As the co-host of NBC’s ‘Today,’ Matt Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present. It included an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her, which left her mortified.”
That’s mild compared to the other juicy nuggets in this article. Another female employee claims Lauer “summoned” her to his office “and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis.” He proceeded to berate her for refusing to engage in sexual acts.
He would sometimes quiz female producers about who they’d slept with, offering to trade names. And he loved to engage in a crass quiz game with men and women in the office: “f—, marry, or kill,” in which he would identify the female co-hosts that he’d most like to sleep with.
These accounts of Lauer’s behavior at NBC are the result of a two-month investigation by Variety, with dozens of interviews with current and former staffers. Variety has talked to three women who identified themselves as victims of sexual harassment by Lauer, and their stories have been corroborated by friends or colleagues that they told at the time. They have asked for now to remain unnamed, fearing professional repercussions.
Ew ew ew ew ewwwwwww.
According to Variety, several of the women spoke to network executives about Lauer’s behavior, but the bigwigs didn’t care, because ratings.
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. and other prominent men.
Plus NBC probably knew a bunch of stories were about to emerge, so in a way, it was a preemptive strike.
The article goes on to explain Lauer’s unfaithfulness to his wife and all over despicable behavior.
Despite being married, Lauer was fixated on women, especially their bodies and looks, according to more than 10 accounts from current and former employees. He was known for making lewd comments verbally or over text messages. 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. For Lauer, work and sex were intertwined.
“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. “He couldn’t sleep around town with celebrities or on the road with random people, because he’s Matt Lauer and he’s married. So he’d have to do it within his stable, where he exerted power, and he knew people wouldn’t ever complain.”
BTW, Lauer apparently had a “button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from the inside without getting up.” You know. That way he wouldn’t get caught in the act. And he could essentially lock unsuspecting women in his office. How creepy is that?
This afforded him the assurance of privacy. 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.
He also exhibited horrid behavior outside of the studio. He frequently invited attractive staffers to his hotel room.
According to sources, the sexual harassment extended to when Lauer traveled on assignment for NBC. Several employees recall how he paid intense attention to a young woman on his staff that he found attractive, focusing intently on her career ambitions. And he asked the same producer to his hotel room to deliver him a pillow, according to sources with knowledge of the interaction.
This was part of a pattern. According to multiple accounts, independently corroborated by Variety, Lauer would invite women employed by NBC late at night to his hotel room while covering the Olympics in various cities over the years. He later told colleagues how his wife had accompanied him to the London Olympics because she didn’t trust him to travel alone.
Oh. And he frequently dismissed stories about cheating dog husbands. ‘Cause dogs gotta stick together. You know.
According to producers, Lauer — who had considerable editorial clout over which stories would ultimately air on “Today” — would frequently dismiss stories about cheating husbands. However, in the wake of Roger Ailes and Harvey Weinstein, Lauer had to keep up with a national conversation about sexual harassment. It often made for awkward moments on TV for staff members who knew about Lauer’s private interactions.
I cannot believe this went on for so long.
h/t Variety
