Media

CNN’s Jake Tapper Peacock Blocks NBC For Shielding Weinstein

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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CNN’s Jake Tapper unleashed his wrath against NBC Tuesday charging the network with being “complicit” in the tornado of sexual harassment and assault allegations against Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Tapper’s angst is toward NBC, not Farrow or The New Yorker. 

He deduces that NBC investigative reporter Ronan Farrow writing a piece on Weinstein for The New Yorker means NBC didn’t want it.

Tapper isn’t a stranger to freelancing for publications apart from where he works. Over the years he has published stories and cartoons for a number of pubs including GQ, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Post, the New York Times Magazine and, ahem, The New Yorker. Before CNN, Tapper worked for ABC News but CNN snagged him after the network put George Stephanopoulos  in his “This Week” role — a role Tapper wanted.

“Jake had his eye on the chair, and he got tired of waiting,” a source “familiar with the situation” told Politico back in 2012. “I think it became clear to him he wasn’t going to get it.”

Here’s what he had to say about NBC’s Weinstein coverage:

Freelancer Yashar Ali bolsters what Tapper is suggesting about NBC. In a recent piece for HuffPost, Ali reported that NBC News has “barely” addressed the Weinstein scandal.

The Weinstein mess has, however, been widely covered at MSNBC.

Ali writes in HuffPost, “Both CBS and ABC covered the story during their evening news broadcasts. But ‘NBC Nightly News’ conspicuously did not give time to the story about a powerful media and political figure ― a story that had dominated social media throughout the day and was based on a New York Times report that clocked in at nearly 4,000 words.”

He emphasizes that NBC has covered sexual harassment in the past, specifically pointing to 2015 when Kate Snow interviewed 27 women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual misconduct and crimes.

Ali’s chief complaint with NBC this time around is that they haven’t done much original reporting.

Since Ali’s report, NBC has picked up the pace. For example, on Monday, Megyn Kelly interviewed Lauren Sivan, a TV reporter and victim of Weinstein’s sexual harassment. About 10 years ago, Sivan said, Weinstein led her to a restaurant basement where he masturbated in front of her. The next day he phoned and said he’d had a great time and wanted to see her again. She told him “absolutely not.”

Farrow’s story, “From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories,” was published Monday morning at 10:47 a.m.

In it, he walks readers through a 10-month investigation in which 13 women told him their stories of sexual harassment and assault at the hands of Weinstein — a lengthy print story that seems rather fitting for a magazine like The New Yorker.

Some of the more serious allegations include rape, unwanted touching, exposing himself and masturbating.

The Mirror requested comment from two NBC spokeswomen. They did not have a comment by Mirror press time. If that changes, I’ll bring their comments to you.

Weinstein’s spokeswoman says he adamantly denies the allegations.

The denial letter in Farrow’s story is almost chilling in contrast to the extremely detailed accounts of Weinstein’s alleged assaults and harassment over the years.

“Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein,” states a release from Weinstein Spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister.

“Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual. Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.”

After receiving compliments on this story from CNN’s Hadas Gold — “Amazing reporting,” she wrote — and a retweet from NBC’s Chief White House Correspondent Hallie Jackson, Farrow replied, “Thank you. Fortunate these sources were as brave as they were.”