Megyn Kelly thinks Meredith Vieira and Ann Curry are unsung heroes in Matt Lauer's firing from NBC.
Kelly has claimed she knew "too much" about Lauer's workplace behavior at NBC, a network she was fired from in 2018. Lauer was fired a year earlier after allegations of sexual misconduct.
"Let's not lose sight of the forces for good in this story, like former Lauer co-host Ann Curry, who, despite the risks, sounded the alarm on Lauer in 2012 after a young woman complained to her, and Meredith Vieira, who, when confronted with Brooke Nevils' account, told her to go report it," Kelly told Page Six.
Lauer's case was thrust back into the spotlight when Brooke Nevils, Vieira's former assistant, came forward in Ronan Farrow's newest book, "Catch and Kill," with claims that the disgraced newsman raped her while they were on assignment at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Lauer denies the accusation, claiming their relationship was consensual.
She "seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do," he wrote in an open letter.
Curry told the Washington Post last year that she alerted NBC bigwigs to Lauer's alleged misconduct around 2012. She was since shown the door, and many believe that Lauer engineered her ousting. On Monday, NBC News president Noah Oppenheim hit back at allegations that the network looked the other way when Ann Curry allegedly reported Lauer.
"By her own account, Curry relayed no specific complaint, nor did she say Lauer's 'problem' regarded any specific workplace misconduct," he said, according to Page Six. "NBCU was able to speak with one of those former executives during the 2018 review and she denied having been told even this. At the time of the employee's exit, three years later, she still had made no complaint about Lauer, was paid 22 weeks of severance based on her years of service and was asked to sign a separation agreement that was standard for departing employees at the time. The standard separation agreement included a routine confidentiality clause that was designed to protect proprietary company information. It was not drafted to prevent an employee from reporting misconduct, and it has never been used that way. (This employee made a complaint to management about Lauer, for the first time, after his 2017 firing.)"
In regards to Nevil's claims, Curry tweeted last week, "Brooke Nevils is a credible young woman of good character. She came to NBC News an eager and guileless 20-something, brimming with talent. I believe she is telling the truth. And that breaks my heart."