Just this morning, news broke on a new sexual misconduct allegation against “TODAY Show” anchor, Matt Lauer.
“On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer,” NBC News President Andrew Lack said in a statement sent to staff this morning. “While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident,” Mr. Lack said.
Savannah Guthrie broke the news on the eight o’clock hour of “TODAY” Wednesday morning, reading the memo on air. Hoda Kotb was rushed in as a co-anchor in Lauer’s place.
WATCH: Here are TODAY’s headlines on this Wednesday morning pic.twitter.com/opzA3IcYmP
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 29, 2017
“All we can sat is we are heartbroken; I’m heartbroken,” Ms. Guthrie said. “I’m heartbroken for Matt. I’m heartbroken for the brave colleague who came forward to tell her story.”
In this post-Weinstein wave of allegations, high powered men are being brought down one-by-one, with Lauer being the latest one to fall. Just last week, CBS fired Charlie Rose after eight women accused him of sexual misconduct. The woman raising the allegations against Lauer met with The Times Monday afternoon in New York, but she said she wasn’t ready to come forward publicly to tell her story.
Ms. Guthrie was visibly upset, but remained composed when she raised an important question: “How do you reconcile your love for someone with the revelation that they have behaved badly?”
Unfortunately, with these allegations piling up and becoming more and more common, this is a question many women may find themselves asking. And just like the rest of us, Guthrie doesn’t know the answer. Since the #MeToo movement began, thousands of women have come forward, telling their stories for the first time. While it’s overwhelming to see all of these men as sexual perpetrators instead of just co-workers, or actors, of friends, or even family, it’s vital to us, as a society, to recognize that this is a problem. It’s being normalized. Sexual misconduct is normal, and that is not acceptable. With so many women telling their stories, it’s become clear that we are not alone when we say, “me too.” And by seeing Guthrie struggle with the question, that question on how to love someone who has done something so horrible, we are shown that it’s okay to not know. It allows us to struggle alongside her. “As painful as it is, this moment in our culture and this change had to happen.”