People: Matt Lauer ‘is on a mission right now to take down’ Ronan Farrow

NBC fires Matt Lauer after complaint about 'inappropriate sexual behavior' **FILE PHOTOS**

There were rumors about Matt Lauer for years. Rumors about how he ran the Today Show offices like a rapist’s fiefdom, rumors about his infidelity and his predatory behavior around women. There were rumors that he got women fired when they wouldn’t sleep with him or when they threatened to talk. When Me Too stories began coming out in the fall of 2017, many of us felt like Lauer would be outed. And he was. On November 29th, 2017, he was fired due to Brooke Nevils accusation: she told NBC executives that Lauer had sexually assaulted her at the Sochi Olympics. And he was gone. We didn’t know Nevils’ name at the time, and tons of outlets jumped on the reporting in those weeks. Other victims told their stories to the New York Times, the NY Post and other outlets, and their stories were horrifying.

Still, it was Nevils’ story that got Lauer fired, and it was Nevils who went to Ronan Farrow to give her first-person account of what happened in Sochi and beyond. Ronan Farrow reported her story fairly in Catch and Kill, and Lauer released victim-blaming and misogynistic statements in his defense (about Nevils alone, not the multitude of other victims he left in his wake). Then over the past week, there’s been a weird move in media circles to, like, suggest that Farrow’s reporting sucked? It’s all very vague. Then Lauer wrote a horrendous op-ed on Mediaite about how Farrow sucks and he doesn’t have any credibility, etc. Now People Magazine – an outlet which has always been too friendly to Lauer – had this story:

Matt Lauer’s lengthy op-ed denying the rape allegation against him is part of his “whole mission” to “clear his name,” a source close to the disgraced Today show anchor tells PEOPLE.

“In Matt’s mind, he’s focused on not being labeled a rapist,” the source says. “Matt cares so much about what people think about him — even though he might not want to admit that.”

Last fall, former NBC employee Brooke Nevils alleged in Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators that Lauer anally raped her in his hotel room at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. “It was non-consensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” she told Farrow in Catch and Kill. “It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.” She also said in the book that she had more sexual encounters with Lauer back in New York City, telling Farrow: “It was completely transactional. It was not a relationship.”

In a lengthy op-ed for Mediate published on Tuesday, Lauer, 62, said he was “falsely accused of rape” and slammed Farrow’s reporting in his best-selling book, claiming the Pulitzer-winning journalist did not properly fact-check certain allegations.

“He’s on a mission right now to take down Ronan,” the source continues. “He blames Ronan for getting him labeled a rapist. Matt completely believes it was a consensual affair, no different from what many powerful people do, but that he’s had to suffer the consequences like nobody else.”

The source adds of Lauer’s fall from grace: “He was making $30 million a year and was taking helicopters from Long Island into work, four days a week. Now he’s got nothing.”

[From People]

“Now he’s got nothing…” but his freedom, access to his children, the ocean, a Hamptons mansion and more. Motherf–ker belongs in jail but he’s pissed off that one of his victims spoke on-the-record to Ronan Farrow. What would he do if additional victims came out and gave on-the-record interviews? Anyway, I’m not saying Farrow is a perfect person or a perfect journalist or any of that, but Farrow has so much more credibility than Lauer and that’s not going to change for a very long time.

NBC fires Matt Lauer after complaint about 'inappropriate sexual behavior' **FILE PHOTOS**

2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN.

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48 Responses to “People: Matt Lauer ‘is on a mission right now to take down’ Ronan Farrow”

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  1. Noodle says:

    I hope Ann Curry is in the corner clutching her receipts. He’s a monster and deserves none of the respect Or platform he’s calling for.

    • lucy2 says:

      Agreed. I hope someday she can freely tell her story.

    • Liz version 700 says:

      Oh yes yes yes an Ann Curry take down would be amazing. Dude you should be in jail. Oh right you expect to be able to sociopath your way through the world with no consequences. Welcome to the consequences though not nearly what you deserve.

  2. Sean says:

    Lauer is so narcissistic he doesn’t realize he’s setting fire to himself. I’m sure he has more victims and I hope this causes them to come forward.

    • Liz version 700 says:

      Sorry Sean I didn’t see your comment but you said it best. He is setting fire to himself so badly you can smell the smoke…

  3. Becks1 says:

    I’m confused about the timeline here, but didn’t Brooke go to NBC BEFORE catch and kill came out? I’m not sure at what point she was talking to Ronan, but didn’t Catch and Kill come out in 2018? So Ronan wasn’t the reason Matt Lauer was fired, not directly. You could argue that due to Ronan’s investigation and reporting Brooke felt like she could finally go to NBC execs, but its not like Matt Lauer was fired AFTER catch and Kill was published, right?

    Or is my timeline mixed up? Harvey Weinstein was “outed” in 2017, right? The all black dress Golden Globe was Jan 2018, right? So Ronan’s reporting on HARVEY came out before Matt was fired, but not any reporting on Matt Lauer.

    Besides, I think we all know that NBC wasn’t going to fire Matt Lauer because there was one accusation. There have been multiple accusations, and they were credible, and NBC knew it.

    All that to say -I was never anti Matt Lauer before this, I actually didn’t get the Matt Lauer hate, but now I’m so disgusted and horrified by his behavior that I’m embarrassed that I DIDNT get the Matt Lauer hate.

    • Chica1971 says:

      I think there is more to come about NBC and MeToo. A few weeks ago, they effectively fired Andy Lack who was Matt’s boss. Rumor was there is another story in make about the unsavory culture at NBC.

    • RoboKat says:

      Farrow had been investigating Weinstein for multiple outlets. That reporting was shut down by those outlets presumably for reasons not related to the quality of the story. This eventually came out in via paper first and then the book. The book focuses on the efforts to protect powerful but horrible people (i.e. Wienstein) and this is how NBC got pulled in. Lauer was fired bc of his behavior. Farrows reporting on the efforts to protect powerful but horrible people (i.e. Wienstein) meant that it was no longer possible to protect this other particular horrible person (i.e. Lauer). Either way not Farrows fault.

      • Becks1 says:

        Thanks, I understand all that, as I’ve read the book.

        My point is, the book wasn’t published when Lauer was fired. His firing was (to the outside observer) very sudden, but Farrow hadn’t named him and the book wasn’t out yet with all the details.

  4. Tanguerita says:

    Good luck, Matty, you sleazy despicable rapist. Not. In the ideal world you’d be in jail now, sick with Coronavirus, but hey. Farrow’s reporting is impeccable.

  5. Mrs Robinson says:

    The only thing about this that doesn’t infuriate me is that he’s clearly in a miserable self-pitying prison of his own mind. Clearly he has learned nothing, and now he’s trying to break out of it, appealing to any MRA dude who will sympathize with “gotcha” cunning. Trouble is nobody needs or wants him back—he had won the lottery by being in the position he was in, but he still thinks he deserved that paycheck and recognition.

  6. Lindy says:

    How much money do you think Lauer paid for that hit piece on Farrow? I’m not joking. I read it and it’s pretty much just fluff. It doesn’t call into question anything substantive from Farrow’s reporting. (Which was thoroughly fact-checked).

  7. Nev says:

    WHY CANT THIS MEDIOCRE TRICK GO AWAY.

  8. Case says:

    Wow, he really sounds like the Steve Carrell character from The Morning Show. He’s deluded and entitled.

    • Teel says:

      Lauer is who the Steve Carrell character is ‘loosely’ based on.

      • lucy2 says:

        Yes, apparently once the Lauer story broke mainstream, they re-worked the character to follow the story more.

  9. Christina says:

    It would be good if more of his victims went on the record, but that would be too hard on them, especially if it happened at work, because they probably don’t want to ruin their careers. A lot of young women get pulled in by predators like Lauer and Roger Ailes, and you lose the ability to pay your rent went you speak up or say no. Ronan Farrow can take care of himself.

    Men’s rights dudes will support Lauer. I wouldn’t be surprised if some smaller outlets hire him because a lot of men think that this type of behavior is about consensual sex rather than abusing power to pressure women into non-consensual sex and hiding rape.

  10. smee says:

    His new tattoo is insane…
    “Hatred corrodes the container it’s carried in.”

    • Zut alors says:

      All that hatred corroded his hairline long before his abhorrent behavior became public

      • ravynrobyn says:

        @ ZUT ALORS-BWAHAHAHAHAHA, great !

        Talk about another Penis With Teeth…

        ET actually had the nerve to say that MY beloved Steve Carell & PWT looked alike, wtf?
        Hell NOOOO!!!!!! You might think that if you didn’t see side-by-side pictures, but when you do, they don’t look alike. No reason to insult a good and decent man by comparing him to a corroding-from-the-inside bastard.

  11. jferber says:

    He may get a break, yet another one, as guilty white men so often do. Ousted sexual assaulter/”reporter” Bill O’Reilly was out and about recently quoted as saying the people who died from Covid19 “were on their last legs anyway.” So he’s being quoted and is probably going to be resuscitated again like all the other dirty bastards such as Flynn, etc. It’s not only cats that have 9 lives, it’s predatory, arrogant white men (small caveat: there are two sexual predators on the Supreme Court now, one white and one black). And one is now president! Can’t keep a bad white man down!

  12. LunaSF says:

    Can’t he just retire with his millions and go the f away? It’s not like he’s living on unemployment and food stamps! He is a millionaire many times over and will never see any jail time. Move to the Hamptons and shut the f up!

    • lucy2 says:

      Too much ego. He should be grateful every day he’s not in jail and should stay quiet.

    • Deering24 says:

      Too much of everything is _never_ enough for ego heads like Lauer. Keeping that entitlement coming is all they care about.

  13. Whatever says:

    Ugh.

    Where’s Kathy Lee and Katie Couric who are all “he was nice to me so I consider him still a friend”??

    And Meredith Viera knows soooo much. Why isn’t she talking?

    Is Matt Lauer still powerful?

    • GoogleIt says:

      Years ago I had a job where I interviewed celebrities about travel. Almost every contact began with an interaction with an assistant before speaking directly to the celeb. You could tell so much about a celeb’s personality by their assistant. Let’s just say that Katie Couric’s assistant was the rudest, nastiest person I encountered.

    • holly hobby says:

      Per Ronan’s book, Brooke told Meredith about the story. Meredith was the one who arranged for her interview with HR. I think Meredith is no longer friends with the rapist but that doesn’t mean she’ll go on record.

  14. grumpyterrier says:

    Good luck, douche. We haven’t missed your ostrich egg.

  15. MargaritasForBreakfast says:

    Why did Mediaite even give this creep a platform?

    • K.T says:

      Mediaite is partly owned by DanAbrams who used to work at NBC and is a tv legal analyst-type. He also thought that Weinstein would get acquitted and is one of the many media dudes who subtly imply that #metoo legal stuff & reporting has gone ‘too far’. There’s tonnes of right and liberal Media Men who, consiously or not, think that all this women stuff or racist stuff or trying to have Diverse and equitable newsrooms is threatening. Pushback time, they want ‘muscular’ reporting, which is a code. There’s even talk that some think Lauer deserves another big job *ughhhhhhhhh

  16. Lisa says:

    Matt Lauer is delusional.

    • AnnaKist says:

      When was the last time you heard a rapist admit he raped his accuser? I can’t say I ever have. I don’t know if I’d call him delusional; he knows exactly what happened. He just didn’t want anyone else ever knowing what a mongrel he really is, and believed his position of power gave him that protection. No abuser wants people knowing his/her true self. That’s why so many bung on that charming persona, and explains why Couric et al can say. ‘he was nice to me”. It also means she can separate herself from what she knows to be true. She’s looking out for herself, and only herself. So much for sisterhood. I hope these cowards have trouble sleeping at night, and that Lauer’s blood boils with the constant worry of which woman will be next to tell her story.

  17. Darla says:

    How can I be a rapist? I didn’t hold a knife to her throat. I wasn’t in an alley. And I’m white.

  18. STRIPE says:

    I wonder is Lauer is friends with the person that wrote that weird NYT piece on Ronan recently? Or maybe he paid him?

    These two things coming out so close can’t be unrelated, right? Actually three things if you count paps suddenly getting a clear shot if Lauer and his tattoo

  19. Marjorie says:

    I’m pretty sure this is happening because Farrow is close to another scoop involving a big media/political person. I read the NYT article when it came out – it was bad writing by a jealous ass – and I was like, uh oh, Sulzberger or someone is in trouble!

    The Times does bad shit alot (ask President Rodham) but as long as they have Charles Blow, Paul Krugman, and the crossword I’ll keep my subscription.

  20. Aud says:

    Really?

    I guess the one thing he has left is the audacity

  21. Amber says:

    Ronan Farrow had his book independently fact-checked, which is not a requirement from publishers for non-fiction books. He did everything he could to make the book airtight, because he knew scrutiny would be so high, and he knew that even the smallest detail could derail the credibility of these stories because people are so quick to blame and/or disbelieve women. He made it airtight to protect the women he reported on from unnecessary scrutiny. I believe his reporting is credible and thoroughly fact-checked. Lauer is a creep and a liar. All of this is getting stirred up because Ronan is zeroing in on another big story. I can feel it.

  22. Jay says:

    I really hope this ends up backfiring on Lauer and that his hateful attempts to discredit his accuser end up jeapordizing that cushy payout and exposing all of those creeps who ensured his protection. If I had pulled strings and paid a boatload of money to get this guy away from the network, I’d be pissed at all the attention he’s bringing to the story again.

  23. holly hobby says:

    Matty can stop it right now. If he was unfairly accused, why didn’t he file a lawsuit? That’s right because simple facts and probably more will come out during the discovery phase. The Farrow book was heavily vetted by the publisher. You think the publisher would sell something that will get then sued?

    He should cry into his millions and freedom in his mansion. I do not feel sorry for him.

  24. JANJan says:

    Louis CK is the only one who admitted what he did (not rape but disgusting regardless). It seemed sincere but then he continues to make jokes in his stand up that make it seem like he’s still preoccupied with sex.

  25. Jezebeelzebub says:

    I read the trash fire that is Lauer’s piece. He uses a lot of words to convey one thought: “NUH-UH, FARROW!”. I’m pretty sure that”NUH-UH” isn’t an actual defense, but to be fair to Lauer, its not like he has other options because (I feel) his actions are indefensible.

    Pro-tip: avoid the comments on that piece. I made the mistake of reading through them and now I want to set something on fire or hurl a brick or…..something. I don’t know.

    In conclusion, FUCK YOU, MATT LAUER. Fuck you in the face forever. You can “NUH-UH” all you want but it won’t change the fact that you’re a predator and that you’ve been called out in front of God and errybody.

  26. justwastingtime says:

    I feel like his “mission” could terribly backfire on him.. that people could start coming out of the woodwork with new stories.

  27. Grace says:

    entitled asshat. that’s all i got.

  28. Emily says:

    I hope this bites him in the butt. More women will come forward. Ronan will have the receipts. I’m here for takedown part 2. Who told him this was a good idea?

    And poor white man got fired for raped and given a big severance I’m sure rather than jail time. Are we supposed to feel bad?