I’m on the verge of boycotting Hollywood and the entertainment industry altogether. Every single day, I turn on the TV or open my computer screen and am faced with the most disgusting and horrifying news one could ever wake up to. More and more, men are being accused of abusing their power and sexually harassing and/or assaulting women – and, it’s been going on for years. Harvey Weinstein was just the tipping point, we’re in the middle of an all-out war. Recently, NBC host and journalist Matt Lauer is the latest aggressor under fire for inappropriate behavior in the workplace (and elsewhere).
According to reports, an anonymous accuser came forward stating that Lauer had inappropriately interacted with her while covering the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. NBC claims that the complaint was the “first they’d ever received about Lauer,” but I – and numerous other people – find this incredibly hard to believe. Since the accuser has come forward, at least three other women have come forward to complain about Lauer’s behavior in the workplace.
One of the women who came forward claimed that Lauer had sexually assaulted her in his office in 2001. Katie Couric said in a 2012 interview that Matt Lauer had a habit of “pinching her on the ass,” a lot.
And, don’t get me started about Ann Curry and her firing. According to The New York Times:
[Ann] Curry felt that the boys’ club atmosphere behind the scenes at “Today” undermined her from the start, and she told friends that her final months were a form of professional torture. The growing indifference of Matt Lauer, her co-host, had hurt the most, but there was also just a general meanness on set. At one point, the executive producer, Jim Bell, commissioned a blooper reel of Curry’s worst on-air mistakes. Another time, according to a producer, Bell called staff members into his office to show a gaffe she made during a cross-talk with a local station.
I’m sorry, NBC, tell me again how Lauer was your prized possession and never did a damn thing wrong? Not to mention, the creepy button Matt Lauer had hidden under his desk…let me brief y’all.