The former 'Today' co-host reveals in a new interview that a female staffer came to her in tears before revealing that she was 'sexually harassed physically' by Matt back in 2012.
- Apr 27, 2018
AceShowbiz - NBC has fired Matt Lauer following multiple sexual harassment claims levelled againts him. However, a former employee remains skeptical that sexual abuse is fully taken care at the network. Ann Curry, the former "Today" show co-host, reveals in a new interview that she attempted to let the network's honchos be aware of Matt's sexual misconduct in 2012.
Ann tells Washington Post that a female staffer came to her in tears before revealing that she was "sexually harassed physically" by Matt. "A woman approached me and asked me tearfully if I could help her," Ann recalls. "She was afraid of losing her job... I believed her."
Later, Ann brought the issue to the management without revealing the woman's name per the latter's request. "I told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on him and how he deals with women," she says.
Ann, who left the network the same year after being on "Today" for 15 years, refuses to name the NBC officials she approached at that time, but the woman, who wants to remain anonymous, confirms to the site that she did go to Ann with her complaint.
NBC, however, declines the claims. A network spokesman says that there was no record of the warning in Matt's file. With that being said, it remains unknown if the network took any action to follow up Ann's report at that time.
Ann continues saying in the interview that NBC had "pervasive verbal sexual harassment." The Washington Post further claims Ann's allegations were consistent with a much broader pattern of harassment at the network stretching back to the 1990s. However, it is said that NBC executives tended to dismiss such claims or were slow to take action on them.
Previously, Ann revealed on "CBS This Morning" that she wasn't surprised by the news of Matt's sexual harassment scandal. "You know, I'm trying to do no harm in these conversations," she said. "I can tell you that I'm not surprised by the allegations."
"I'm trying not to hurt people. I know what it's like to be publicly humiliated. I never did anything wrong to be publicly humiliated and I don't want to cause that kind of pain to someone else," she continued. "But I can--because you're asking me a very direct question--say that I would be surprised if many women [at 'Today'] didn't understand there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed. I think it would be surprising if somebody didn't see that. It was verbal sexual harassment."
