After Firing Matt Lauer, NBC Executives Move to Control the Damage<br />Lack said that the detailed allegation made against Mr. Lauer on Monday was “the first<br />complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News.”<br />Later on Wednesday, NBC released a statement that seemed to emphasize the executives’ ignorance of any accusations against Mr. Lauer: “We can say unequivocally<br />that prior to Monday night, current NBC News management was never made aware of any complaints about Matt Lauer’s conduct.”<br />“Good Morning America,” the ABC program that is the main rival to “Today,” reported on Thursday<br />that Mr. Lauer’s behavior was an “open secret” and that NBC’s official denial was at odds with ABC’s reporting on the matter<br />According to an NBC employee who was present at the meeting and spoke about it on condition of anonymity to discuss internal issues, Mr. Oppenheim said<br />that four executives — including himself and Andrew Lack, the NBC News chairman — had asked Mr. Lauer repeatedly in recent weeks if he had engaged in inappropriate behavior with staff members and that he had denied any wrongdoing.<br />Noah Oppenheim, the news division’s president, met with “NBC Nightly News” staff members at their daily meeting to tell them about recent conversations<br />that took place between Mr. Lauer and NBC News executives.<br />Lack addressed “the circumstances around Matt Lauer’s appalling behavior, why this was able to happen, and why it wasn’t reported sooner.”<br />Lack said that a “team of the most experienced NBCUniversal Legal<br />and Human Resources leaders have begun a thorough and timely review of what happened” regarding Mr. Lauer.
