Matt Lauer Fired

[CYdTracked]

Why is it wrong for her to be sad? She's a frickin human being! She literally found out right before she went on the air, so I don't think she's out of line for showing emotion. It's not like she used her platform to defend him.

Agreed and quite honestly I am shocked NBC didn't give her the day off today and let someone else fill in to report the story. Then again the story just broke early this morning so not sure who they could have brought in on that short of notice, Hoda already was there as her and Kathy Lee have their bit later in the morning so that made sense and even she at times looked a little shaken up.

 

[NorthCyd]

They aren't just going to fire him without a rock solid case against him. I'm assuming if they did they would be opening themselves up to a massive lawsuit.

 

[Clonefan32]

LOL c'mon man. If you are truly a good guy then you have nothing to worry about. Absolutely terrified to work with women? Just don't be a creep! It isn't that complicated. The stuff coming out of Hollywood is disgusting. It is pretty obviously way over the line.

I also can't understand this sentiment. I can't imagine it is that hard to resist making sexual advances towards someone in the workplace. I also doubt it is impossible to avoid making comments that can be interpreted as sexual in nature. And let's say you do develop a legitimate office place romance. It really shouldn't be all that hard to figure out when it is wanted and genuine, as opposed to forced or the result of being in a position of power.

 

[jsb]

I agree with you 100%, but someone's name can be "drug through the mud" on this and their reputation tarnished. If a disgruntled employee wanted to "get back" at their superior, it wouldn't be hard to fabricate a harassment story and smear their name with a scandal that's 100% false.

I suppose it wouldn’t be hard. But most women don’t want to come forward. Most of the accusations are so awful and the newspapers are doing great things to verify.

 

[Clonefan32]

I think NBC and Savannah handled it about as well as possible. Even if they gave Savannah the day off, they would have replaced her with someone who also knew and worked with Matt. It's not like they were going to bring in a guest host, especially with news like this to report. I think they were left in a position where she just had to handle it.

Also, I think her comment about being "sad" is fine. You could tell by her reaction she was genuinely surprised and troubled by this. I think her comments about being like many others who have to come to grips with someone they love having done something inappropriate was pretty spot on.

 

[BCClone]

If I would ever hurt someone even inadvertently I would be absolutely devastated. I never want to hurt someone and have kind of avoided relationships because of it. Some of that is stuff I need to handle but that is a side effect of this stuff.

.

Truly not trying to be mean, but this part will be hard to get through. You will inadvertently hurt people in life especially if you have any leadership responsibilities, or even have any interaction with anyone. Best to start working that out.

 

[Cybyassociation]

Norah and gayle had a night to process it. Savannah found out this morning. Her response was fine.

*Minutes before going on air.

 

[BCClone]

I agree with you 100%, but someone's name can be "drug through the mud" on this and their reputation tarnished. If a disgruntled employee wanted to "get back" at their superior, it wouldn't be hard to fabricate a harassment story and smear their name with a scandal that's 100% false.

I have seen this a couple times. I even had to correct a wrong statement about one just last month that happened roughly 6-7 years ago. Problem is, you can't give details of why the person was found not guilty, so it seems to stick no matter what.

 

[dxmonger]

*Minutes before going on air.

CNN and the New York Post are reporting that this has been known for weeks. Sounds like Savannah found out that the result would be termination minutes before, but if it's true there was an investigation for weeks, then she would have likely known about that.

 

[State43]

See, but the thing is that you do likely interact with people like these. I think that, if you polled almost every woman on the board, they would have a story of sexual harassment or assault in their history.

This is NOT to say that women are the only victims. They just traditionally are victimized more as part of a male-dominant society.

I think it’s very eye opening to the younger half of the male population who really don’t fall as much into this kind of behavior.

 

[mramseyISU]

Getting out ahead of the posse.

When it comes to these high profile people loosing their jobs because of this stuff I think it's ok to be skeptical if it's one or two accusations but I think there gets to be a point with the sheer numbers where they can't all be a lie either. If five different people raise their hand saying so and so acted inappropriately I think the chances that it happened to at least one of them seems plausible.

 

[Entropy]

Sooooooo... yeah.

 

[cyhiphopp]

My first thought is always "why are people getting fired based on complaints/accusations" as I still feel we need to remember innocent until proven guilty (although my heart goes out to the people who have been sexually violated/abused if guilty) but reading further, sounds like it was a repeated pattern of behavior. He was their highest paid employee....but good riddance if that's what he was doing.

Pretty sure most of it is CYA by the companies involved. If they have multiple complaints they will get roasted publicly if they don't take immediate action. And companies aren't subject to the same "guilty until proven innocent" standard as the courts are. If the company has enough evidence to not get sued, they will pull the trigger.

 

[jkclone]

Truly not trying to be mean, but this part will be hard to get through. You will inadvertently hurt people in life especially if you have any leadership responsibilities, or even have any interaction with anyone. Best to start working that out.

I get that and part of the problem is it is I’m just kind of accepting that it is an issue for me. The issue though stems from attitudes like the comment I responded to. The just don’t sexually harass people attitude is dangerous in my opinion because it treats it like it is easy. Don’t harass people like Charlie Rose is accused isn’t hard but when you get deeper into the issue it gets hard. That’s why I’ve kind of supported sparating some of these based on the severity and situation. I worked indirectly with someone who was fired in one of those situations. He was someone who liked to tease people in a fun way. The company got a complaint and then told him to change it but he didn’t from what I was told so the let him go. I think that’s about the best way to handle those situations. Make them aware their behavior is causing issues and give them a chance to correct those issues. Otherwise I think we risk people getting fired when they didn’t know they were making someone uncomfortable.

It is an extremely difficult situation to deal with because there is a ton of nuance in relationships.

 

[Cybyassociation]

CNN and the New York Post are reporting that this has been known for weeks. Sounds like Savannah found out that the result would be termination minutes before, but if it's true there was an investigation for weeks, then she would have likely known about that.

I had read they were investigating it. I haven't read a bunch of stuff on it today, but it's definitely possible it was being investigated and they were unaware it was happening.

 

[2forISU]

Wouldn’t surprise me. Wasn’t he and Natalie Morales having an affair, which is why Natalie ended up going to Access Hollywood?

There has been numerous rumors of Matt and having relationships with his co-host/colleagues.

 

[JM4CY]

Sooooooo... yeah.

What was that??

 

[IAStubborn]

Sure makes this awkward...

Yeah, his question sound almost identical to the previous posts in this thread assuming that the evidence must be damning to fire a big star. He may have been right and same implication applies to Lauer or if O'Rielly was right and it was a business decision (no damning evidence) well then I bet Matt regrets asserting that assumption. I bet both are right probably right to an extent, allegations are damning enough to make it a smart business decision for a media company. In some industries it really doesnt matter if there was enough evidence to be sure they were guilty, just that there is enough to do damage beyond what that person is worth. Given both were "worth a lot" I would guess there was a lot of **** coming out. Both he and O'Reilly fit the profile of arrogant egotistical dicks that from my experience are often the same people most likely to cross boundaries and often get away with it.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Agreed and quite honestly I am shocked NBC didn't give her the day off today and let someone else fill in to report the story. Then again the story just broke early this morning so not sure who they could have brought in on that short of notice, Hoda already was there as her and Kathy Lee have their bit later in the morning so that made sense and even she at times looked a little shaken up.

She's a professional and probably preferred to go on with her day but that would be rough. They are a really tight knit group.

 

[CtownCyclone]

Sooooooo... yeah.

Wut. This was a for-real thing they did?