After Firing Matt Lauer, NBC Executives Move to Control the Damage
Lack said that the detailed allegation made against Mr. Lauer on Monday was “the first
complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News.”
Later on Wednesday, NBC released a statement that seemed to emphasize the executives’ ignorance of any accusations against Mr. Lauer: “We can say unequivocally
that prior to Monday night, current NBC News management was never made aware of any complaints about Matt Lauer’s conduct.”
“Good Morning America,” the ABC program that is the main rival to “Today,” reported on Thursday
that Mr. Lauer’s behavior was an “open secret” and that NBC’s official denial was at odds with ABC’s reporting on the matter
According to an NBC employee who was present at the meeting and spoke about it on condition of anonymity to discuss internal issues, Mr. Oppenheim said
that four executives — including himself and Andrew Lack, the NBC News chairman — had asked Mr. Lauer repeatedly in recent weeks if he had engaged in inappropriate behavior with staff members and that he had denied any wrongdoing.
Noah Oppenheim, the news division’s president, met with “NBC Nightly News” staff members at their daily meeting to tell them about recent conversations
that took place between Mr. Lauer and NBC News executives.
Lack addressed “the circumstances around Matt Lauer’s appalling behavior, why this was able to happen, and why it wasn’t reported sooner.”
Lack said that a “team of the most experienced NBCUniversal Legal
and Human Resources leaders have begun a thorough and timely review of what happened” regarding Mr. Lauer.