Matt Lauer Fought For His Job As Evidence Piled Up Against Him

Matt Lauer in 2012. Image by Getty

By Ari Feldman January 26, 2018

When reporters from the New York Times were calling the executives of NBC about the “culture” of the Today Show, the executives asked Matt Lauer if there was anything they should know.

“I am racking my brains, but I can’t think of anything,” Lauer responded, according to a report in Page Six.

Less than two weeks later, Lauer was fired for sexual misconduct, including harassment of Today Show staffers and inappropriate relationships with junior staff. Lauer reportedly fought for his job, despite the mounting evidence against him.

“Genuinely, nobody at NBC News had any idea at this stage that he was preying on younger staffers at ‘Today,’” said one source inside NBC. “Nobody knew what Matt was doing with the interns and junior producers. It was appalling.”

The day before his firing Lauer was reportedly “in stitches” during what would be his last “Today” show broadcast. He was formally fired in a visit from NBC Chairman Andy Lack, who was reportedly “furious” with Lauer for his affairs with young staffers. Lauer reportedly had been “unapologetic” in initial meetings with with NBC executives about his conduct, but was more subdued in his final meeting with Lack.

Lauer’s co-stars were finally informed of his firing at 4 a.m. November 29, as they were driving to NBC studios to film that morning’s “Today” broadcast.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. He covers Jewish religious organizations, synagogue life, anti-Semitism and the Orthodox world. If you have any tips, you can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aefeldman.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO