I very much wanted to be done talking about Matt Lauer for today and for always, but apparently, that’s just not possible yet. Because while NBC’s explanation cited “a detailed complaint from a colleague,” they didn’t give any more details. They emphasized that “it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News,” although they also have “reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”
Now Variety has released a detailed list of allegations that make it clear that 1. Matt Lauer is a goddamn monster, and 2. There’s no way NBC didn’t know about this. It takes a lot of power to keep shit like this quiet.
Some of the stories about Lauer include him giving a female colleague a sex toy as a gift, along with “an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her.” He called another employee into his office, exposed his penis to her, then “reprimanded her for not engaging in a sexual act.” He made colleagues play the game “fuck, marry, kill” with him, commenting on which female co-hosts he’d like to sleep with. Despite being married, “For Lauer, work and sex were intertwined.”
One of the most disturbing bits from the article described a bond villain-type button under his desk designed to trap women in his already-secluded office.
His office was in a secluded space, and he had a button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from the inside without getting up. This afforded him the assurance of privacy. It allowed him to welcome female employees and initiate inappropriate contact while knowing nobody could walk in on him, according to two women who were sexually harassed by Lauer.
Going back to that whole not believing NBC didn’t know what Lauer was up to thing, WHO APPROVED THAT BUTTON?
https://twitter.com/DanaSchwartzzz/status/935984877425577984
matt lauer: yo, can i have a button in my desk that turns my office into an air tight sex prison?
nbc exec: yeah, sure.
— Maggie Serota (@maggieserota) November 29, 2017
The only people that have buttons like Lauer's are sexual predators and Ron Swanson. And Lauer is no Ron Swanson. pic.twitter.com/RKV4kxHOVe
— Vivian Kane (@viv_kane) November 29, 2017
We're you the deeply uncomfortable contractor who installed an auto door lock button in Matt Lauer's desk? Please contact me at [email protected]
— Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) November 29, 2017
On top of all of this, Variety says these details were the result of a two-month investigation. Meaning NBC definitely knew this was coming and only fired Lauer to get a jump start on damage control. Multiple women interviewed say as much, claiming they “complained to executives at the network about Lauer’s behavior, which fell on deaf ears given the lucrative advertising surrounding Today.”
In having to weigh the impact the firing of a serial sexual predator would have on profits, NBC–like so many others we’re hearing about–decided it just wasn’t worth it to care about women.
I bet they’re wishing they cared now.
(via Variety, image: Shuttertock)
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