The Matt Lauer scandal and controversy have been making the rounds online since 2017.
Matthew Todd Lauer, a former television newscaster from the United States, is best known for his work with N.B.C.
Following his experience as a local news presenter for WNBC in New York City, he served as the news anchor for The Today Show from 1994 to 1997, which gave him his first significant exposure on the national stage.
He moved from the news desk to the host’s chair for the N.B.C. Today’s program in 1997, and he co-hosted the program until 2017.
Additionally, he regularly contributed to the nightly news magazine Dateline N.B.C. Together with N.B.C., Lauer co-hosted the opening ceremonies of multiple Olympic Games and presided over the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
N.B.C. terminated Matt Lauer’s contract in November 2017 in response to claims of improper sexual conduct after receiving “a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.”
Additionally, the network said it has “reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”
Scandal And Controversy With Matt Lauer
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N.B.C. News announced on November 29, 2017, that Lauer’s employment had been terminated after a female N.B.C. team member who shall remain nameless claimed that Lauer had sexually harassed her during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and Matt continued harassing them after they returned to New York.
In a message to his staff, N.B.C. News chairman Andrew Lack stated: “We received a detailed accusation on Monday night regarding Matt Lauer’s improper workplace conduct from a colleague.
In the more than 20 years he has worked for N.B.C. News, there have never been any complaints about his conduct, but there are some signs that this could not have been an isolated incident.
A network official said Lauer wouldn’t get any compensation since he was fired “for cause,” according to Lauer. His agreement was scheduled to be in effect until the end of 2018.
The New York Times and Variety were separately investigating Matt Lauer’s conduct, but they were not aware of any past allegations against Lauer, according to N.B.C. News management.
Later reports challenged this;
former N.B.C. News reporter Linda Vester said that management ought to be aware of Lauer’s risk and that “everyone knew” this.
According to several sources cited by Ronan Farrow in his 2019 book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, N.B.C. News was not only aware of Matt Lauer’s misconduct in advance but also that Harvey Weinstein used this knowledge to pressure the program into killing a story that would have exposed his sexual assaults.
Variety reports that at least 10 of Lauer’s current and former employees have made allegations. More accusations were made public in the days that followed. N.B.C. identified three further occurrences that occurred between 2000 and 2007.
One of the alleged victims is Brooke Nevils, who, according to Farrow in Catch and Kill, alleges Lauer sexually attacked her in his hotel room when the two were in Sochi covering the 2014 Winter Olympics for N.B.C.
Nevils called her following encounters with Lauer “transactional,” and she only consented out of concern that Lauer would try to control her career. In his book, Farrow also asserts that Nevils continued their relationship with Lauer after the first encounter.
However, there is enough truth in these accusations to make Lauer feel ashamed and humiliated. “Some of what is being stated about me is inaccurate or mischaracterized, but there is enough truth in these reports to make me feel embarrassed and humiliated,” Lauer said in a statement after being fired.
Two weeks after Matt Lauer was dismissed in June 2000, a former Today production assistant named Addie Zinone filed a fresh complaint regarding a consensual sexual contact she had with Lauer.
Zinone referred to the connection as an “abuse of power” on Lauer’s part since she believed that rejecting Lauer’s advances would have hurt her career.
At a 2010 N.B.C. cocktail party, Farrow believes that Lauer exposed Matt to her, according to Melissa Lonner, the Today show’s booker. He contests this claim, and, according to his attorney, “he will not participate in the book’s circus-like marketing campaign.”
Matt Lauer: Is He Arrested? What had become of him?
In the months after his November 2017 Today show firing, Lauer is said to have isolated himself in his for-sale Hamptons house and “focused on family.”
According to Page Six, Lauer and Rocque filed for an uncontested divorce in July 2019, and the divorce was approved by a judge of the Suffolk County Supreme Court in September of the same year. The couple had not been separated for more than two years.
A divorce would result in Lauer giving Roque up to $20 million, according to the story at the time, and she would retain ownership of the joint horse property in the Hamptons.
After the divorce was finalized, Lauer reportedly began dating marketing and PR expert Shamin Abas. As a result of their frequent visits to the Hamptons, Shamin and Matt have been close friends for a very long time. Page Six cites a close friend of Lauer as its source.
They just began dating, and she is a stunning lady. They reportedly spent the holidays in his New Zealand residence, according to a number of media publications.
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