Following Matt Lauer’s termination from NBC News, both Vulture and the New York Times published accounts from several women who detailed disturbing sexual misconduct allegations, such as gifting a sex toy to a staffer and the already infamous door locking button he had at his desk — which he used to initiate inappropriate sexual contact. One of the more nefarious details came from the latter publication however, in 2001 when a woman (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) was asked to join Lauer in his office to discuss a story.
When she sat down, he used the aforementioned button to lock the door behind her. (Although the Times does note that it was a regular security measure installed for high-profile employees.)
The woman said Mr. Lauer asked her to unbutton her blouse, which she did. She said the anchor then stepped out from behind his desk, pulled down her pants, bent her over a chair and had intercourse with her. At some point, she said, she passed out with her pants pulled halfway down. She woke up on the floor of his office, and Mr. Lauer had his assistant take her to a nurse.
The woman told The Times that Mr. Lauer never made an advance toward her again and never mentioned what occurred in his office. She said she did not report the episode to NBC at the time because she believed she should have done more to stop Mr. Lauer. She left the network about a year later.
It’s unclear what led to the woman passing out, but she did not specify that she had been given any drugs or alcohol by Lauer. The woman told her former NBC supervisor her account on Wednesday, who still works at the network and went to human resources with it.
Prior to that incident, the same woman says that Lauer had exhibited unprofessional behavior around her, like asking her if she ever cheated on her husband and telling her that she was “no fun” when she was uncomfortable with him sitting too close to her in a car on the way to an airport. On Thursday morning Lauer issued a statement apologizing for his behavior.
(Via the New York Times)