Curry says a female staffer told her that she had been ‘sexually harassed physically’ by Lauer in 2012. Curry says she then approached two members of NBC management with concerns.
Ann Curry says she informed a pair of NBC managers about her former Today co-host Matt Lauer’s unprofessional behavior back in 2012, five years before it eventually resulted in his firing.
According to a report from The Washington Post published late Thursday, Curry says a female staffer informed her that she had been “sexually harassed physically” by Lauer and she approached two members of NBC management with concerns.
« A woman approached me and asked me tearfully if I could help her, » Curry said. « She was afraid of losing her job…. I believed her. »
At the employee’s request, Curry did not name her, but did specifically call out Lauer.
« I told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on him and how he deals with women, » said Curry.
The Post reports that Curry signed a non-disclosure agreement with NBC. She coyly addressed claims facing Lauer on CBS This Morning in January. At the time, she told Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell she was « not surprised by the allegations. »
Later that month, Curry told USA TODAY the remedy for sexual harassment in the media was « systemic change. »
« We are way overdue to ending this, » she said. I say ‘enough.’ Enough. And what we need to do is to balance the power. »
« Women are at least one-to-one as far as population in this country, in some years we are the overwhelming majority of humanity, » she continued. « And as a result, we have to ask, ‘Why is it we’re so poorly represented in positions of power in America?’ As long as this imbalance of power exists, there’s a vulnerability. »
USA TODAY’s requests for comment from NBC and Lauer were not immediately returned. In a statement read on air after he was fired from Today in November over « inappropriate sexual behavior, » Lauer apologized to the « people I have hurt. »
NBC News chairman Andy Lack explained to colleagues in an email last fall that « While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident. »
NBC News’ Stephanie Gosk reported on Megyn Kelly Today the day following Lauer’s ousting that there were as many as eight accusers.
The Post reports that the NBC employee told the paper she did confide in Curry and wanted to remain anonymous to avoid backlash. The Post also reports that an « NBC spokesman said the company has no record of her warning and added that there was no mention of it in Lauer’s personnel file. »
In a statement to the Post, Lauer labeled many of the accounts that have come to light as untrue.
« I have made no public comments on the many false stories from anonymous or biased sources that have been reported about me over these past several months…. I remained silent in an attempt to protect my family from further embarrassment and to restore a small degree of the privacy they have lost, » he said. « But defending my family now requires me to speak up.
“I fully acknowledge that I acted inappropriately as a husband, father and principal at NBC, » he continued. « However I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false.”
