NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Veteran journalist and news anchor Matt Lauer has become the latest high-profile media and entertainment figure to lose his job over allegations of sexual misconduct.
Lauer was fired from his longtime network home NBC on Wednesday after a colleague filed a complaint about “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace,” NBC Chairman Andy Lack said in a statement.
“On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. It represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company’s standards. As a result, we’ve decided to terminate his employment. While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.
“Our highest priority is to create a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected, and to ensure that any actions that run counter to our core values are met with consequences, no matter who the offender.
“We are deeply saddened by this turn of events. But we will face it together as a news organization – and do it in as transparent a manner as we can. To that end, Noah and I will be meeting with as many of you as possible throughout the day today to answer your questions.”
Details of the complaint against Lauer have not been made public, but a source reported to CNN that the unnamed woman alleged that Lauer’s inappropriate behavior occurred when Lauer was in Russia covering the 2014 Winter Olympics for NBC.
An NBC News spokeswoman declined to comment.
Lauer served as a newsreader and anchor for NBC News since 1994 when he joined the broadcaster’s “Today Show” as the newsreader and then stepped in as co-anchor on the show after Bryant Gumbel stepped down in 1997.
Lauer has also hosted programs on MSNBC and Discovery and was a regular host of content such as the broadcast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Christmas at Rockefeller Center.
