After NBC fired “Today” anchor Matt Lauer for alleged sexual misconduct, some reporters are saying there is much more to the story.
According to a report by Page Six, Lauer may have sexually assaulted an employee while at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
An NBC source told Page Six that the employee in question complained on Monday, stating, “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.”
WATCH:
CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that The New York Times and Variety Magazine were investigating Lauer’s behavior for weeks and even months before an employee filed a complaint against him. Stelter said that NBC knew about the investigations. (RELATED: Bombshell rocks the media — Matt Lauer FIRED from NBC)
Yes they did. https://t.co/v8qVHry0pZ
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) November 29, 2017
Ramin Setoodeh, a writer for Variety, said that he knew of “multiple victims.”
For the last two months, @EWagmeister and I have been reporting on a story about serious sexual harassment allegations against Lauer. There were multiple victims. https://t.co/jW2QEeDOqo
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) November 29, 2017
Yashar Ali declined to share more details about the allegations but tweeted on Wednesday that Lauer is “one of the worst he has seen.”
Ali claimed that multiple women have come forward privately about Lauer, but were “terrified” of doing so publicly because of the power Lauer had in media.
I, and other reporters , have been aware of several women who have come forward privately in the past few months …even before Weinstein. They weren’t willing to go public though…they were terrified of Matt. https://t.co/jR3VV1AWGt
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) November 29, 2017
“Matt Lauer put the fear of god into these women,” Ali wrote. “He had relationships with reporters outside NBC that he cultivated just for this purpose. They knew that.”
Matt Lauer put the fear of god into these women. He had relationships with reporters outside NBC that he cultivated just for this purpose. They knew that. https://t.co/47UKT8DuJA
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) November 29, 2017
Ali further called Lauer’s “manipulation” of women “evil, frightening stuff.”
Lauer is among the worst I’ve heard about. Not in terms of the kind of misconduct but the way in which he manipulated these women into silence. It’s evil, frightening stuff. https://t.co/5FiFmajUw0
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) November 29, 2017