Matt Lauer, the longtime left-wing anchor of NBC’s Today Show, was fired Wednesday over allegations of sexual misconduct, according to the New York Times.
Along with Charlie Rose at CBS, Lauer is the second morning anchor to lose his job over sexual misconduct allegations. Last month NBC fired political commentator Mark Halperin after numerous women claimed he had behaved in appropriately with them while he was working at ABC/Disney.
Lauer’s co-anchor, Savannah Guthrie, and Hoda Kotb opened Wednesday morning’s Today Show with a chyron that read “NBC News Terminates Matt Lauer,” and read the following memo from NBC chairman Andy Lack:
Dear, colleagues,
On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. It represented, after a serious review, a clear violation of our company’s standards. As a result, we’ve decided to terminate his employment. While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he has been at NBC news, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident. Our highest priority is to create a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected. And any action that runs counter to our core values are met with consequences. We are saddened by these events. We will face it together as a news organization and do it as transparent a manner as we can.
Guthrie said she was first told about Lauer’s firing this morning and that she did not know anything more. “For the moment, all we can say is that we are heartbroken,” she added.
Lauer, who has been married since 1998 and has three children, allegedly “sexually assaulted a female NBC staffer during the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014,” according to Page Six.
An NBC insider said Lauer’s alleged victim complained to HR on Monday, “This happened so quickly. She didn’t go to the media, she made a complaint to NBC’s human resources, and her evidence was so compelling that Matt was fired on Tuesday night. The victim says she has evidence that this has also happened to other women, but so far we don’t have evidence of that.”
Left-wing CNN reports that Lauer had been under investigation by the New York Times for weeks and that the allegations involve “multiple victims.”
President Trump was quick to weigh in with a swipe at Lauer, at the left-wing NBC News organization, and Lack himself:
Trump also called for an investigation into the dead intern found in Joe Scarborough’s congressional district office in 2001. Just as there is no evidence Trump colluded with Russia, there is also no evidence the left-wing Scarborough did anything wrong in 2001. Trump is merely applying the media’s rules to the media.
Just 12 hours ago, another pillar in the left-wing elite media fell over allegations of sexual misconduct, NPR’s chief news editor David Sweeney. Less than a month ago, Michael Oreskes, NPR’s senior vice president of news and editorial director, was forced to resign over similar accusations stretching back decades.
NBC’s Matt Lauer and NPR’s David Sweeney have now been added to a growing pile of disgraced left-wing journalistseither fired or under investigation for sexual misconduct. The full list is here. There is also Glenn Thrush of the New York Times, Mark Halperin of NBC News, NPR’s Micheal Oreskes, Charlie Rose at CBS, and around a dozen others.
NOTE: This piece has been updated with new information.
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