It appears that Matt Lauer is the latest example of “everyone knew.”
Variety was working on a big story that the reporters claim NBC knew about:
At @Variety, @RaminSetoodeh & I had been working on a Matt Lauer story for months and NBC was aware. There are multiple women we've spoken to with far-ranging accusations against Lauer. The power of journalism has never been more evident with this cultural change.
— Elizabeth Wagmeister (@EWagmeister) November 29, 2017
The New York Times, too:
"The @nytimes and @Variety had been investigating alleged misconduct by Lauer for several weeks" — per @brianstelter, who also says he believes the New York Times will release a report later today https://t.co/NrNlx6KwV5
— Rebecca Cardenas (@RebeccaWSMV) November 29, 2017
Freelance journalist Yashar Ali was aware of “several women” who had come forward “even before Weinstein”:
I, and other reporters , have been aware of several women who have come forward privately in the past few months …even before Weinstein. They weren’t willing to go public though…they were terrified of Matt. https://t.co/jR3VV1AWGt
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) November 29, 2017
But all these women were terrified to go public:
Matt Lauer put the fear of god into these women. He had relationships with reporters outside NBC that he cultivated just for this purpose. They knew that. https://t.co/47UKT8DuJA
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) November 29, 2017
Lauer is among the worst I've heard about. Not in terms of the kind of misconduct but the way in which he manipulated these women into silence. It's evil, frightening stuff. https://t.co/5FiFmajUw0
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) November 29, 2017
Ali is pushing back on claims he should have outed Lauer earlier than today:
https://twitter.com/YossiGestetner/status/935861680071954433
Why do people still have a hard time getting this? if someone tells you something off the record and doesn't give you permission to print it, particularly in the case of a rape/sexual assault/harassment story, you can't print it. https://t.co/yA4PO6pnNB
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) November 29, 2017
Twitchy regular Buc Sexton has questions, too:
Media people knew that Matt Lauer was an abusive harasser for years
Many, many, many people.
They did and said nothing.
We should all ask why
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) November 29, 2017
They hadn’t verified it. They had journalistic standards. https://t.co/V93MS7mQfF
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) November 29, 2017
They couldn’t say anything to HR?
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) November 29, 2017
Exit question: How long did NBC know about Lauer and did any of these women complain previously?
***
Related:
DID HE JUST GO THERE? Donald Trump calls on NBC to investigate Joe Scarborough over 'unsolved mystery' https://t.co/wly0ByOs2D
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 29, 2017
BREAKING: MATT LAUER FIRED FOR 'INAPPROPRIATE SEXUAL BEHAVIOR' https://t.co/e336qON9rN
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 29, 2017
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