Noah Oppenheim is coming to bat for NBC News in the wakeof the rape allegationsmade againstMatt Lauer.
The division’s president sent a memo to staffers at NBC News and MSNBC on Monday morning, addressing the claims inRonan Farrow‘s bookCatch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predatorsand saying that the company has “no secrets and nothing to hide” concerning the rape and sexual misconduct allegations against the formerTodayshow co-host, 61.
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“Now that we’ve read Farrow’s book, it’s clear — his smear rests on the allegation that NBC’s management knew about and took steps to hide Matt Lauer’s misconduct beforehis firing in November of 2017,” Oppenheim writes in his Monday memo.
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“Without that, he has no basis on which to rest his second conspiracy theory — that hisHarvey Weinsteinreporting was squashed to protect Lauer,” Oppenheim continues, referencing Farrow’s claim in his book that NBC Newskilled his bombshell 2017 article about Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconductafter the disgraced producer spooked the network with a report of Lauer’s own sexual misconduct allegations.
“Farrow alleges there were employees who reported Lauer’s behavior prior to November of 2017 and were paid settlements to silence them,” he adds. “Not only is this false, the so-called evidence Farrow uses in his book to support the charge collapses under the slightest scrutiny.”
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“As you know, our news organization is filled with dedicated, professional journalists, including some of the best and most experienced investigative reporters, as well as others who support our reporting with exceptional talent, integrity and decency,” wrote Lack, 72. “It disappoints me to say that even with [the] passage of time, Farrow’s account has become neither more accurate, nor more respectful of the dedicated colleagues he worked with here at NBC News. He uses a variety of tactics to paint a fundamentally untrue picture.”
“The first moment we learned of it was the night of November 27, 2017,and he was fired in 24 hours,” Lack wrote. “Any suggestion that we knew prior to that evening or tried to cover up any aspect of Lauer’s conduct is absolutely false and offensive.”
Brooke Nevils.
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source: people.com
