Daytime television aficionados woke up yesterday to discover that another one of the programming block's most prominent male figures had been felled by the expanding national reckoning with sexual harassment in the workplace. Matt Lauer, for 20 years the co-host of NBC's "Today Show", had a long history of sexually harassing and pursuing relationships with co-workers. NBC said they fired Lauer after an employee filed a complaint about behavior that began back in 2014 at the Sochi Olympics when she was an intern.
Some of his NBC colleagues, including Megyn Kelly, said they'd heard rumors about Lauer, but they "hoped they weren't true."
After being abruptly fired on Wednesday, Lauer has issued his first public statement since the scandal broke.
For the people he has hurt, Lauer says he's "truly sorry". He also pledged to make reflection and soul searching his "full-time job".
Here is Matt Lauer’s full statement pic.twitter.com/ht1CLzMU6S
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 30, 2017
Lauer and CBS This Morning Host Charlie Rose have both been forced out of their respective networks after women came forward to accuse them of harassment.