Incredible as it sounds, New York Times and The New Yorker first published allegations of sexual harassment and rape against Harvey Weinstein by Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd and dozens of others. This resulted in Weinstein, the disgraced producer, getting fired from his own company and Manhattan, New York district attorney Cyrus Vance reportedly seeking an indictment against him. ************************************************************************************************************** Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker as late as January, 2018, also detailed Weinstein’s alleged and elaborate efforts to "de-voice" journalists and accusers. Weinstein, the ex-movie executive denied the new accusations and “any allegations of non-consensual sex”. Weinstein made a statement to the Times that, “I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it.” ************************************************************************************************************** Weinstein scandal apparently ignited a national trend to discuss sexual misconduct and encouraged numerous other victims of both sexes to step forward with accusations ranging from unwanted touchinging to rape against others. At least one had been previously accused of "dalliance" when running for re-election he apparently did not want. US Senator Al Franken was widely shown in a video "clowning around" with a lady who later placed a large "gotcha" on him forcing him to resign. Non-political figures included former Gossip Girl actor Ed Westwick, House of Cards star Kevin Spacey, actor Ben Affleck. ************************************************************************************************************** Even a Washington Post reporter, Joel Achenbach, made a statement to the Post, “I’m very sorry to say that I’ve behaved badly and have been suspended by The Post for three months for inappropriate workplace conduct. I’ve said and done things that were unprofessional, and I apologize to the women affected by this and acknowledge their courage in speaking out.” The Washington Post announced on Jan. 10, 2018 that it had suspended Achenbach, for 90 days without pay after allegations surfaced of “inappropriate workplace conduct” with current and former female colleagues. The Washington Post newspaper did not go into details about the allegations against Achenbach. ************************************************************************************************************** These are the public figures who have been accused of sexual misconduct after the Harvey Weinstein allegations. ************************************************************************************************************** Then in November of 2018, Matt Lauer was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women who chose to remain anonymous and remained that way. ************************************************************************************************************** When he was the co-host of NBC’s “Today,” Matt Lauer gave a colleague a sex toy as a present that included an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her, which left her shocked and stunned. ************************************************************************************************************** But Variety declined to name names. This would get them involved in people's business who did not want to be named. Good legal move, preserved anonymous sources, but nosy public is stymied and consumed with curiosity just which "Today Producers" of today and yesteryear -- spoke out against Matt Lauer. But do "we" really need to know who from who did not? Not really. ************************************************************************************************************** Matt Lauer summoned a different female employee on another day to his office, lowered his trousers, "flashing her" his penis. When the employee "refused the invitation", visibly stunned, he chided and reprimanded her for not doing a sexual act. ************************************************************************************************************** Lauer would sometimes ask female producers about who they’d slept with, dealing to trade names. One of his joys was to play a crass game with men and women in the office called “f—, marry, or kill”. In this game, Lauer would identify the female co-hosts that he’d prefer to have sex with. ************************************************************************************************************** Numerous accounts of Lauer’s misbehavior at NBC came about from a two-month investigation by Variety, consisting of dozens of interviews with present and past staff employees. Variety has interviewed three women who identified themselves as Matt Lauer's sexual harassment victims, and their stories have been confirmed by friends or colleagues that they shared their grief with at the time. For the present and perhaps forever, they have asked to remain anonymous, as they greatly fear blacklisting and "no call" status in their profession. ************************************************************************************************************** Back in November of 2017, NBC announced that Lauer was fired from “Today.” Considered a stunning co-host "highly ranked firing in the network’s news division, Lauer had "pulled down" a whopping $25 million annual salary. According to sources, the cause of his firing, was a highly detailed complaint from another current NBC employee about Lauer's inappropriate sexual conduct that began on an assignment at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and rocked on for several months. ************************************************************************************************************** The employee met with human resources (HR) at NBC on a November 2017 night statement, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack related that this was the first complaint about Lauer’s behavior in over 20 years and acknowledged that it may not be the last: “We were also presented with reason to believe that this may not have been an isolated incident”. ************************************************************************************************************** Numerous women complained to Variety Magazine that had they gone before to network executives about Lauer’s behavior, but all this was ignored due to the lucrative advertising surrounding the “Today Show.” NBC declined to comment on the matter. During most of Lauer’s time at “Today,” the morning news show was No. 1 in the ratings, and executives, eager to keep him happy, could see no wrongdoing. ************************************************************************************************************** It is unknown if NBC is employing Lauer with payments until his contract ends but the contract does expire later in 2018. Lauer did not appear to be accepting any calls to make comments. ************************************************************************************************************** Insiders say that NBC had to act quickly after the November complaint, due the severity of the accusations and the national trend on sexual harassment that has ended the careers of Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, Kevin Spacey, Louis C.K. and several other prominent men. November 2017 questions about the future of “Today,” painted a troubling portrait of Lauer. As a camera personality for over 20 years, Lauer had apparently posed as America’s squeaky-clean dad when he had this "entirely different persona off-camera." ************************************************************************************************************** Although married with children, Lauer was seemingly obsessed with women, especially their curvacious bodies and "hot" looks, according to more than 10 accounts from current and former employees. Lauer, known for his lewd comments verbally or over text messages, once made a suggestive reference to a colleague’s performance in bed and compared it to how she was able to complete her job, according to witnesses to the exchange. these kind of comments alert that Lauer considered work and sex as interconnected. ************************************************************************************************************** A former anonymous producer aware of encounters stated, “There were a lot of consensual relationships, but that’s still a problem because of the power he held. He couldn’t sleep around town with celebrities or on the road with random people, because he’s Matt Lauer and he’s married. So he’d have to do it within his stable, where he exerted power, and he knew people wouldn’t ever complain.” ************************************************************************************************************** Lauer, paranoid of being followed by tabloid reporters and papparazi, got bolder at 30 Rockefeller Center when his "star was rising" after Katie Couric’s departure from “Today” in 2006. Lauer's office, a secluded space, was equipped with a control button under his desk to allow automatically locking of his door from the inside without his getting up to do it manually. This assured privacy, allowing him to welcome female employees and initiate inappropriate contact with the assurance that nobody could "surprise" him, according to two women who were sexually harassed by Lauer. ************************************************************************************************************** Sources report that the sexual harassment extended to when Lauer traveled on assignment for NBC. Several employees recall how he showered attention on a young woman on his staff that he found attractive, focusing like a laser beam on her career ambitions. He requested the same producer lady to come to his hotel room bringing him a pillow, according to sources who knew of the encounter. ************************************************************************************************************** According to numerous accounts, this was Lauer's modus operundi or MO — independently verified by Variety. Lauer would invite women employed by NBC late at night to his hotel room while reporting on the Olympics in various cities in the past. He later complained to colleagues that his wife had accompanied him to the London Olympics because she didn’t trust him to travel alone. ************************************************************************************************************** The spotlight of truth grew bright in early November of 2017, when Lauer's longtime booker Matt Zimmerman was fired over sexual harassment complaints. Lauer had promoted Zimmerman, his close friend, to a high executive position with power. ************************************************************************************************************** Lauer’s conduct was not a secret among other employees at “Today,” according to numerous sources. One or more of the anchors would gossip about stories she had heard, desiminating them like wildfire among the staff. A former reporter remarked, “Management sucks there,” admitted a former reporter, while anonymously discussing various executives who previously worked at the show - “They protected the s— out of Matt Lauer.” ************************************************************************************************************** Some producers reported to Variety that they were conflicted and concerned about what to do around Lauer as they worried that their careers would be sidelined if they didn’t respond to his ardent advances. “There is such shame with Matt Lauer not liking you. I did this special with him and we are traveling and I had a cold sore on my lip and I heard him say to Bryant (Gumball) Gumbel, ‘She has this really ugly cold sore on her lip,’ like that was something to be ashamed of. He was just really cruel.” ************************************************************************************************************** According to producers, Lauer — with considerable editorial power over which stories would actually get to air on “Today” — would frequently dismiss stories about cheating husbands. However, in the wake of Roger Ailes, Harvey Weinstein, Lauer had to keep up with a conversation about sexual harassment. It often made for awkward moments on TV for staff members who knew about Lauer’s private interactions. ************************************************************************************************************** Lauer asked the former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly in September of 2017 — if he’d ever sent lewd (suggestive) text messages to colleagues. Lauer added, “Think about those … women and what they did. They came forward and filed complaints against the biggest star at the network they worked at. Think of how intimidating that must have been. Doesn’t that tell you how strongly they felt about the way they were treated about you?” ************************************************************************************************************** Disclaimer: The previous was published in various sources as news of the day. The names have been changed to protect the innocent in other publications but not the NYT and others mentioned. Lauer was really Landoer, the Zimmerman was really Traymore. Both Matts were actually the Mitt twins. All jive aside, the more research was done, the more details were kept out because several of the accused made such sincere apologies that the Tyson affair was recalled. Where the Jugo looked "guilty as homemade sin", the tattooed pugilist - appeared "railroaded". The one certainty is that "Life is not fair." Another axiom comes to mind - "When the chips are all down and your backs to the wall - YOU'RE the best friend that you'll ever have - Johnny Cash song circa "way back when".