NBC News terminates Matt Lauer
Co-host Matt Lauer appears on NBC's 'Today' at the NBC's TODAY Show on August 22, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
(WJBK) - Longtime "Today" show host Matt Lauer has been terminated from NBC News for what the station is calling "inappropriate sexual behavior," the station announced Wednesday morning.
The network says it received a detailed complaint from a colleague Monday night about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Lauer.
Co-anchor Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb opened the show Wednesday morning with the announcement. Savannah read the memo all colleagues received from Andy Lack, the chairman of NBC News.
The memo stated that, after reviewing the colleague's complaint, NBC News found a clear violation of the company's standards.
The memo did say this was the first complaint about Lauer in his more-than 20 year career with the network, but executives say they have reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.
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"We just learned this moments ago, this morning," Savannah said after reading Lack's statement. "As you can imagine, we are devastated. We are still processing all of this, and, I will tell you right now, we don't know more than what I just shared with you."
Savannah added that she is heartbroken for Matt, whom she called a "dear friend," but said she is also heartbroken for the "brave colleague" who came forward with her story.
You can hear the full discussion from Savannah and Hoda here in the tweet from the Today Show, if you cannot see the embedded tweet below.
This is the second morning television show personality to lose his job because of sexual misconduct allegations in a week. Last week, CBS News fired Charlie Rose after complaints from several women who worked for him.
Lauer, 59, has hosted "Today" for two decades. When paired with Katie Couric, "Today" was the longtime ratings leader and was highly lucrative for NBC. It now runs second in the ratings to ABC's "Good Morning America."
Many "Today" show viewers took out their anger for the unsightly firing of co-host Ann Curry on Lauer, sending the show plunging in the ratings. But NBC stuck with Lauer and the show had steadied with his pairing with Guthrie. The show runs for four hours, with Lauer and Guthrie hosting the first two.