Former NBC Staffer Claims Matt Lauer Exposed Himself to Her at Party
In
Ronan Farrow’s new book, former
Today show booker
Melissa Lonnerclaims former NBC News anchor
Matt Lauer exposed himself to her at a party in 2010.
According to the
Hollywood Reporter, Lonner told Farrow that Lauer lured her up to an empty office at an NBC cocktail party in 2010. There, he led her to a sofa and “unzipped his pants and pulled out his erect penis.”
In response to the allegations, Lauer’s attorney said, “Matt never exposed himself to anyone.”
“This ridiculous story has been shopped around for years. Many allegations that are being circulated were never raised during any fact-checking process,” the attorney claimed. “And despite repeated requests for an advance copy of this book, we have not been provided one, while many media outlets have. Matt will have more to say at an appropriate time, but he will not take part in the marketing circus for this book.”
Lonner reportedly told Farrow that she tearfully recounted the incident to
Ann Curry, who says she told two executives at the network.
Lauer, who was
fired from NBC News in 2017 over sexual misconduct allegations, is also
accused in
Catch and Kill of raping a colleague in 2014. Lauer has denied the allegation.
According to Farrow and his former producer
Rich McHugh, NBC
shut down his investigation into sexual assault allegations against disgraced Hollywood producer
Harvey Weinstein after Weinstein threatened to expose similar allegations again Lauer.
In an internal
memo sent to employees this week, NBC News President
Noah Oppenheim described Farrow’s book as a “smear” against the network and his claims about the Weinstein reporting a “conspiracy theory.”
Last week, CNN’s
Brian Stelter called out NBC for keeping Lauer “protected.”
“You still wonder about the power imbalance in situations like this,” he declared. “Powerful men who seem to be protected by companies. In Lauer’s case, perhaps protected for many years.”
“Were the proper protections in place for employees like this?” Stelter questioned. “How could Lauer have been sleeping — allegedly raping, in one case, a female colleague, without management knowing?”