NBC News pressured female staffers to sign a letter in support of Tom Brokaw, according to the New York Post. As of now, two women have come forward to accuse Brokaw of sexual misconduct.
In the annals of the #MeToo movement, two things will go down in history as massive blunders. First, because he was her friend, there was Lena Dunham jumping to the defense of an accused rapist. And now there is NBC News completely dismissing and all but calling Brokaw’s accusers liars with this misguided letter.
This backfire was only a matter of time. And so, to the surprise of no one, some of the 115 or so NBC female staffers who signed the letter of support are now saying they not only felt pressured to sign, but that they feared for their careers if they did not sign.
One NBC News staffer told the Post, “We felt forced to sign the letter supporting Brokaw. We had no choice, particularly the lower level staffers. The letter was being handed around the office and the unspoken threat was that if your name was not on it, there would be some repercussion down the road. Execs are watching to see who signed and who didn’t. This was all about coming out in force to protect NBC’s golden boy; the network’s reputation is tied to Brokaw . . . If more women come forward, that’s a big problem.”
NBC told the Post that the letter was a “grassroots effort let by women outside the company.” According to the Post, though, the letter was led by “led by Goldman exec Liz Bowyer — who also happens to be a producer for Brokaw’s NBC doc unit and has worked on two of his books.”
This is another massive black eye for NBC News. The far-left news outlet is also dealing with the fallout surrounding Joy Reid, whose credibility went up in smoke last week when it was revealed that her claim about being hacked was found to be completely untrue. Reid and NBC both said that evidence had been found to prove Reid did not write some 50 gay-baiting articles at her old blog. There is no evidence.
One of Brokaw’s accusers is Linda Vester, formerly of NBC and Fox News. She claims Brokaw harnessed, groped, and kissed her without her consent. The second Brokaw accuser has chosen to remain anonymous. Brokaw denies any wrongdoing.
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