Matt Lauer has been fired from Today after a colleague accused the longtime host of ‘inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace’ it was announced on Wednesday.
‘This is a sad morning here at Today and NBC News,’ said a tearful Savannah Guthrie while revealing the news at the start of the popular morning show.
Guthrie then read the letter that NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack had sent to employees just moments before, which stated that Lauer’s alleged offense may not have been an ‘isolated incident.’
‘We learned this moments ago, just this morning. As you can imagine, we are devastated. And we are still processing all of this,’ said Guthrie.
‘I will tell you, we do not know more than what I just shared with you. But we will be covering this story, as reporters, as journalists. I’m sure we’ll learn more details in the hours and days to come. We promise to share that with you.’
Lauer exits as the longest-running morning show anchor and the highest paid, taking home an annual salary of $25 million prior to his termination.
It is being reported by Page Six that it was an NBC staffer working at the Rio Olympics in the summer of 2016 who came forward, telling the network she had been sexually assaulted by Lauer.
Apparently Lauer’s co-hosts, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb’s were told just before going on air this morning, and were shocked and saddened by the news. Apparently they had a difficult time understanding the alleged behavior of the man they had shared the show over the years and counted as a valued colleague and friend.
It is reported that Lauer lived alone in Manhattan during the week, while his wife stayed with their children in East Hampton, NY. That’s not a healthy atmosphere for a good marriage, in my opinion. Apparently he and his wife had filed for divorce in the past, but didn’t go through with it. Lauer had been married one time previously; that marriage ended in divorce two years prior to marrying his current wife.
Stella's Place 
Sorta torn here, never did have even an iota of liking for Matt but this sudden move towards the public execution of public figures on allegations of sexual harassment without due process is unnerving.
This latest paroxysm of social indignation has claiming sexual harassment a 21st century witch hunt. No dunking chair here, right to the auto-de-fe, the accused is guilty…period.
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See video – below.
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My guess is that he admitted to sexual misconduct. Probably more than one accuser/witness.
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Thank you for this. I wanted to be able to present good legal arguments to anyone who talked about it. I wondered how to think about the dismissal in a coherent way. I worked for government agencies for 30 years and am now in private sector, but I have received sexual harassment training annually at both places since the subject went public.
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Re read that, I meant I have received training for years.
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When does John McCain get publically outed for all his womanizing while married?
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Everybody already knows about that. Did he ever sexually harass an employee?
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Though I haven’t watched Lauer for years, I have to say this is the only thing which has come out recently which has surprised me. Downright sad.
However, the other thing which bothers me is that there is no detail. We now know that sexual assault can be on the extremely minor level such as flirtatiously patting someone’s arm or full-on violent rape. What exactly is he being accused of? Did he say, “Put out or get out?” Did he invite her to his office or apartment or hotel room and force her to have sex? What was her role in the activity? Is she a former lover who is being vindictive? He’s accused of not just poor behavior but poor character and criminality; so is he being brought up on charges by the police? Is he being sued?
This whole frenzy is alarming. There is a “men are animals” push going on today. What exactly is happening here…what is the purpose of revealing all at this point in time? I have to believe something else is afoot because in our political climate, bringing down President Trump is foremost in every leftie mind.
Who is next?
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There doesn’t have to be legal proof in court for a company to dismiss an employee. I’ll play the other side: Apparently he is not pushing back on the allegations. If not, why not? I imagine we don’t know the details because it isn’t a court case, and it is to the advantage of both Lauer and NBC that they aren’t.
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If he sexually assaulted her, that is a criminal offense. It cannot then be merely handled at the corporate level should the police choose to investigate. They may not, but then it will be “criminal” if they don’t because if it were you or me, we’d be investigated and if enough evidence were available, we’d be charged.
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I think a lot of it is men using their “power” over you as a subordinate, to make you play nice, or they can make your job very difficult. I’ve never enjoyed having to be “nice” to someone that is either repulsive or just downright mean to me! Nobody should have to just to keep a job. Especially when you NEED that job. We should all expect respect in our work.
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If it was a criminal offense, the person who was attacked could press charges. Unless she/he does, and the details remain secret, the police won’t investigate.
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I heard someone on talk radio say that they thought it wasn’t so much what he did, but the outrageous pressure he threatened her to not talk later.
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What it boils down to is that the culture at large has normalized stupid behavior on the part of both males and females and now that the feces is hitting the fan, there is a lot of stupid detail that has be discussed because the current population has about a 75% portion that is going “huh?” and has no idea what naturally moral behavior is.
So it’s all much more complicated. It’s kind of like the problems the Brits have run into trying to get the Moslems to use flush toilets in public shopping areas when they would prefer to just leave it on the floor next to the porcelain, because they are used to a hole in the floor and can’t imagine sitting or aiming..
Morals and useful language are pretty much history. There’s no reason for anyone to be surprised at any of the thousand iterations of these things.
Besides that, I always thought Matt Lauer was gay. Never watched him enough to know any different.
Merry Christmas, Matt, to you and yers. I will not waste one millisecond ringing my hands in ‘shock’ over anything they have done or what is yet to come up. May the collateral damage be extensive. And may the bird of paradise fly up each and every one of their noses. Repeatedly.,
It is kind of sweet that now NBC speaks of their core values,
I’m beyond cold anger. Really don’t care any more. They have chosen their live and much of the population of this nation has chosen repeatedly over the last 25 years to be ok with the impact all of it has had on our nation. I think my give a damn’s busted.
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I couldn’t resist.
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And I thank you. I will briefly suspend the playing of Christmas music on youtube to enter into this expression –
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Besides that, I always thought Matt Lauer was gay. Never watched him enough to know any different.
Me too.
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Garrison Keillor is fired too, for the same reasons, from MPR.
MPR will end its business relationships with Mr. Keillor’s media companies effective immediately. By terminating the contracts, MPR and American Public Media (APM) will:
* end distribution and broadcast of The Writer’s Almanac and rebroadcasts of The Best of A Prairie Home Companion hosted by Garrison Keillor;
* change the name of APM’s weekly music and variety program hosted by Chris Thile; and,
* separate from the Pretty Good Goods online catalog and the PrairieHome.org website.
What a day! His writing was above average, but his drippy condescension was too. I used to listen to APHC, back in the day, until I realized how much Leftism crept in, and that the “Country” music and Bluegrass he listened to was Country music for Liberals who hate Country music, and that he was a full-fledged Elite Commie. But it gets better…
Also, Milo Yiannopolis is about to publish a bombshell of a book on Hollywood, and today launched a website called http://www.dangerous.com.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2017/11/naming-names.html
Interesting day to be alive.
Oh, and also the Executive News Editor at National Public Radio has also been fired, for the same reasons.
Oh, and Geraldo weighs in, and breaks twitter, just after releasing a book about his sexual exploits.
Heh. There is not enough popcorn.
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Lake Wobegon is now Lake Allgone.
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Will. Not. Punch. Monitor.
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Good plan, Wooly.
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I still stand by my theory that the longer it takes you to compose a comment, the more likely you will end up in spam.
Proven every day. I just close out the tab, and hope for the best, now.
I promise I won’t turn any more monitors into shatterglass.
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Good. š
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I like it fried….great sandwich stuff
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