By Elle Fair ’19

Matt Lauer was fired from National Broadcasting Company (NBC) on the morning of Nov. 29 after a colleague accused him of, “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace,” according to The New York Times. Lauer has been a NBC news anchor for nearly two decades and was the named co host of the “Today” show since in January of 1997.

“Today” show watchers will miss Lauer’s outgoing personality and humor on the show,” Luke Welch ’19 is an avid watcher of the “Today” show, and watcher for many years said. “For as long as I could remember, I have watched the ‘Today’ show with Matt Lauer being the host and it will be so different without him.”

The announcement was made on Wednesday morning by co host Savannah Guthrie. The team was told just minutes before going live on air Guthrie made the announcement while squeezing substitute host, Hoda Kotb’s hand, and holding back tears. “All we can say is we are heartbroken; I’m heartbroken,” Guthrie said.

This was the first complaint about Lauer’s behavior in his 20 years working for the company, but according to a New York Times article with interviews from Andrew Lack, the NBC News president, the company took time to review the represented accusation, and concluded that it was a violation of the company’s standards.

Lauer is not the first news reporter to be accused. Just last week, another major news company, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), fired news anchor Charlie Rose for sexual harassment accusations from multiple women. New York Times, another major company has suspended Glenn Thrush, the former Editor-in-Chief for inappropriate behavior.

Photo used under the Creative Commons License