NBC News received “at least” two more complaints related to former “Today” host Matt Lauer following his ouster Wednesday, the New York Times reported, citing an unnamed person “briefed on the network’s handling of the matter.”
Lauer was fired for what NBC News chairman Andy Lack said in a statement was “a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.”
Lack added: “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.”
According to the Times, one complaint following Lauer’s firing Wednesday was related to him summoning a woman to his office in 2001 and having sex with her. The woman did not report the incident, she told the Times, because she felt ashamed. She did tell her husband about the encounter at the time, and told a friend five years ago, the Times reported.
The accuser’s husband and friend confirmed being told about the incident, the Times reported.
The Times did not detail the second complaint it reported on.
Also on Wednesday, Variety reported on a series of allegations against Lauer, including that he gave a sex toy to a female colleague along with “an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her,” and that he summoned an employee to his office and dropped his pants, and then reprimanded the employee when she did not engage with him sexually.
