Time USA - December 11, 2017

11

TELEVISION

Matt Lauer is

latest media

heavyweight

fired for

sexual

misconduct

By Daniel D’Addario

Lauer replaced Bryant Gumbel onToday and appeared with four female co-anchors during his tenure

LONGTIMETODAY SHOW ANCHOR

Matt Lauer became the latest media-

industry figure to lose his job in the

post–Harvey Weinstein reckoning

over sexual harassment and assault.

On Nov. 29, NBC announced that

Lauer had been terminated; in a memo,

NBC News chairman Andy Lack said

the network had received a “detailed

complaint from a colleague about

inappropriate sexual behavior in the

workplace by Matt Lauer.” He added

that the organization has “reason

to believe this may not have been

an isolated incident.” Later,Variety

reported on an apparent pattern of

abuses by Lauer, including his giving

one female co-worker a sex toy as a gift

and showing his genitals to another.

While so many of the men who have

fallen from their perches had great

power, Lauer’s was of a particularly

visible sort. Like former CBS anchor

Charlie Rose, who was fired from his

morning show after allegations of sex-

ual harassment surfaced, Lauer entered

millions of American homes every

weekday morning. His perspective

helped shape the day’s agenda for view-

ers, and he was a fixture at broadcasts

of iconic events like the Olympics and

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

For more than two decades, Lauer,

who made a reported $20 million a

year, had been the constant on NBC’s

cash-cow news and entertainment

broadcast.Today, once dominant,

now boasts fewer viewers than ABC’s

Good Morning America, but it remains

a lucrative enterprise for NBC.

Today wasn’t quite the Matt Lauer

Show, but it often felt that way.

‘THE ENTIRE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN YEMEN IS IN A STATE OF COLLAPSE, ALONG WITH MUCH OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE.’—PAGE 18

PHOTOGRAPH BY GILLIAN LAUB FOR TIME